Microsatellite analysis of sperm admixture in honeybee.
Sperm usage was investigated in an instrumentally inseminated honeybee queen. Her progeny were examined in the first 3 months of the egg-laying period using a microsatellite marker. Frequencies of different subfamilies differed significantly from one month to another. However, there was no evidence for sperm displacement or sperm precedence of a specific male in the worker progeny. The variance of subfamily proportions decreased over time suggesting that sperm admixture in the spermatheca was incomplete at the beginning of the egg-laying period of the queen and improved progressively during the first months after mating.
Franck
P
P
Laboratoire de Modélisation et de Biologie Evolutive, URLB-INRA, Montpellier, France. franck@ensam.inra.fr
Coussy
H
H
Le Conte
Y
Y
Solignac
M
M
Garnery
L
L
Cornuet
J M
JM
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D013094:Spermatozoa