Relationship of SNPs in Octopamine and Tyramine Receptor Genes with Hygienic Behavior in Honey Bees and Their Effects on Breeding Process

Hygienic behavior in honey bees is a critical for maintaining colony health, preventing the spread of diseases, and providing resistance to harmful parasites. This behavior is defined as the worker bees detecting diseased, dead or parasitized brood cells and removing and cleaning them from the honeycomb cells. This feature, which is the defense mechanism of the colony, has developed on a genetic basis in natural selection and controlled breeding processes. Therefore, understanding the genetic mechanisms of hygienic behavior has become an important research subject in honey bee breeding studies. Recent studies have shown that neurotransmitter systems and receptor genes in honeybees affect various social and cognitive processes, including hygienic behavior. It is known that biogenic amines, especially octopamine and tyramine, regulate the learning, memory, olfactory perception, decision-making mechanisms and social behaviors of bees. Octopamine receptor and tyramine receptor can have a direct effect on stress response, flight activity, foraging behavior and hygienic behavior by acting as stimulants in the nervous system. In this study, in order to understand the genetic basis of hygienic behavior in Efe ecotype honey bees (Apis mellifera anatoliaca), colonies showing hygienic and non-hygienic behavior were determined according to the pin-killed test. Then, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in the AmOA1 and AmTYR1 gene regions of worker bees belonging to these colonies. As a result of the sequence analysis, 10 polymorphisms were determined in the AmOA1 receptor gene and 11 polymorphisms were determined in the AmTYR1 receptor gene. However, no significant difference was observed in the distribution of these SNPs between colonies showing hygienic and non-hygienic behavior. These results indicate that there is no direct relationship between hygienic behavior in Efe Bees and SNPs in AmOA1 and AmTYR1 genes. Therefore, no differences were detected between colonies in terms of SNPs. The polymorphisms have not been reported before in Efe Bee and this contributes to the originality of the study. More comprehensive studies to be conducted in the future will increase the knowledge in this field and contribute to the development of new strategies for selecting colonies in terms of hygienic behavior in the beekeeping industry.