DNA differences found between Africanized and European honeybees.

Abstract

The harmful en masse introduction of Africanized honeybees into the United States will occur within 5 years. Possible means of control are dependent on a reliable way to distinguish the Africanized bees from the extant European bees. Current means of identification are inadequate. Reported here are the encouraging initial results to distinguish the bees by their nuclear DNA. With 9 restriction enzymes and 16 probes, six genetic differences have been found among three samples of European bees from California. Twelve additional differences were detected between the European samples and a sample of Africanized bees from Costa Rica.