When african and european lineages meet: The genetic landscape of honey bees in Argentina
Argentina has a complex and diverse landscape of honeybee (Apis mellifera sp.) populations shaped by historic introductions and hybridization between Africanized (AHB) and European (EHB) lineages. While a latitudinal cline of Africanization has been documented, the adaptive consequences of this gen...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Wiley
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24779 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.72233 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72233 |
| Sumario: | Argentina has a complex and diverse landscape of honeybee (Apis mellifera sp.) populations shaped by historic introductions and hybridization between Africanized (AHB) and European (EHB) lineages. While a latitudinal cline of Africanization has been
documented, the adaptive consequences of this genetic admixture and its implications for local beekeeping practices remain poorly understood. In this study, we provide a more in-depth analysis of Argentine honeybee populations using recently published data from a panel of 272 SNP markers across five ecoregions to: (1) quantify how ancestry proportion (African A, European C/M) varies along geographic gradients, (2) assess whether ecoregion boundaries influence population structure, and (3) evaluate
the potential trade-offs between AHB and EHB ancestry in hybrid genomes. Our results confirm a strong latitudinal pattern of Africanization but reveal novel complexity, with C-lineage ancestry inversely correlated with A-lineage contributions while Mlineage ancestry remains independent. We also detected trace contributions from the O lineage (Middle Eastern), highlighting Argentina's complex admixture history. Despite Argentina's diverse ecoregions, we find limited evidence for ecotype-specific differentiation, suggesting gene flow may outweigh local adaptation—though sampling limitations warrant caution. By linking
genetic patterns to apicultural relevance (e.g., AHB's northward expansion and hybridization zones), this study provides a framework for conserving genetic diversity and managing hive productivity across environmental gradients. Further genome-wide
analyses are needed to disentangle adaptive traits in this understudied yet economically critical pollinator system. |
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