Isolation and characterization of ten microsatellite loci in stingless bee Trigona spinipes (Apidae: Meliponini)

Stingless bees are the most abundant pollinators of Brazilian tropical flora. Trigona spinipes has some of the largest colonies of any stingless bee species found in several types of environment. This work describes the isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci for this species. A microsatellite-enriched genomic library was constructed and ten primer pairs were designed for T.spinipes. The primers were tested in 20 unrelated individuals. The mean number of alleles was 8.10 and mean observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.655 and 0.680, respectively. Primers were also tested in cross-species amplification and five loci were successfully amplified in Trigona chanchamayoensis, Trigona hyalinata, Tetragonisca angustula, Partamona mulata and Frieseomelitta varia. The microsatellite primers described herein will be useful for evaluating genetic variability and gaining a better understanding of the population structure of T.spinipes as well as other species of stingless bees.