Due to past and present imports of Apis mellifera ligustica (Italian bees), Apis mellifera carnica (Carniolan bees) and the English Buckfast
bee (a hybrid strain) across its entire natural range, Apis mellifera mellifera is now threatened with extinction by genetic pollution through
hybridization. Whilst the status of remnant A. m. mellifera populations is well documented on the European mainland, few studies have
been undertaken to identify surviving populations on the British Isles. A few A. m. mellifera stocks are thought to persist in Scotland and
the southwest of England and recently, Ireland might appear to contain multiple non-hybridized A. m. mellifera populations. 163 young
worker bees, representing 121 colonies from across Wales, were genetically screened in an attempt to identify remnant A. m. mellifera
stocks, as part of a conservation breeding program. Recent studies have demonstrated that honey bees of local origin have significantly
higher survival chances than honey bees of non-local origin due to their adaptation to their local environment, suggesting that conservation
of locally adapted honey bees is a logistical and practical possibility to develop sustainable apiculture. Within this survey, we made use of a
custom-tailored SNP genotype assay to estimate the extent of C lineage introgression in the ncDNA as well as sequencing of the tRNAleucox2
intergenic region of the mtDNA to check for the ancestry of the tested coloniesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
