Data from: Molecular identification of cryptic bumblebee species from degraded samples using PCR-RFLP approach
Research data
Citation
Vesterlund, Salla-Riikka (University of Turku). Sorvari, Jouni (University of Eastern Finland). Vasemägi, Anti (Estonian University of Life Sciences). , Data from: Molecular identification of cryptic bumblebee species from degraded samples using PCR-RFLP approach, 2013, doi:10.5061/dryad.59g56.Licensed under
Abstract
The worldwide decline and local extinctions of bumblebees has raised a need for fast and accurate tools for species identification. Morphological characters are often not sufficient and molecular methods have been increasingly used for reliable identification of bumblebee species. Molecular methods often require high quality DNA which makes them less suitable for analysis of low quality or older samples. We developed an efficient PCR-RFLP identification method for four bumblebee species of the subgenus Bombus s. str. (B. lucorum, B. terrestris, B. magnus, B. cryptarum) from degraded samples using a partial mitochondrial COI fragment (446 bp) and three diagnostic restriction enzymes (Hinf I, Hae III, Hinc II). This approach allowed us to efficiently determine the correct species from all degraded DNA samples while only a subset of samples 64.6% (31 out of 48) resulted in successful amplification of a longer COI fragment (1064 bp) using the previously described method. This protocol can be applied for conservation and management of bumblebees within this subgenus and is especially useful for fast species identification from degraded samples.
