Eynard S., Vignal A., Agez Y., Basso B., Bouchez O., Bulach T., Le Conte Y., Dainat B., Decourtye L., Guichard M., Guillaume F., Labarthe E., Mahla R., Mondet F., Neuditschko M., Servin B.
Statistics for an accurate genome wide association study on Varroa resistance trait in a French honeybee.
In: Proceedings of 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP). Publ. R.F. Veerkamp and Y. de Haas, Wageningen Academic Publishers. 2022, 2568-2571.
The honeybee Apis mellifera, major pollinator worldwide, is facing multiple threats to survival with the
infestation by Varroa destructor being a major concern. Resistance to such infestation is a crucial mechanism
for the maintenance of the honeybee population. However, to date, genetic components explaining this
resistance are poorly known making selection for resistant honeybees a challenge. In this study we perform
a genome wide association study on about 300 A.m. mellifera colonies for one trait measuring varroa
resistance, the recapping of varroa infested brood cells. On about 300 A.m. mellifera colonies we identified
multiple chromosome regions showing significant effects for this polygenic trait. We reported a heritability
of 0.57 (±0.21). Recapping of varroa infested brood cells could be a trait of interest for the selection of
resistant honeybees.
