Novel Markers for Honey Bee Selection and Breeding

Most economically-desirable traits in honey bees (Apis mellifera) show considerable levels of heritability and thus can be improved via artificial selection. The honey bee’s high recombination rate requires that new approaches for identifying stable markers for selective breeding be considered. To that end, our team previously developed a novel approach to marker identification, notably the discovery of protein expression patterns that were highly correlated with specific behavioural traits, which were then used to enrich hygienic behaviour across several hundred colonies in Western Canada. This produced stock with improved disease resistance, Varroa tolerance, economic performance and winter survival.

Based on our previous success, we are now conducting a large-scale study to combine proteomics and genome-wide association for identifying highly discriminant markers for bee breeding. The aim of this project is to measure 12 economically-valuable traits of honey bees (colony phenotypes) and develop genomic and proteomic markers that will enable beekeepers to rapidly select and breed healthy and productive colonies, well adapted to the Canadian climate. Over two years, 1521 colonies from across Canada were phenotyped for the following colony-level traits: Varroa destructor population growth, grooming, hygienic behaviour, defensiveness, honey production, brood area, pathogen abundance, innate immunity, gut microbiota and overwintering success. To date, we have performed multiple correlation analysis to study the relationship among all measured traits to determine predictive relationships among pathogen profiles, colony productivity and survival. Progress in identifying SNP markers for economically-desirable traits will be reviewed along with implications for improved methods for trait selection.