MAJOR QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI AFFECTING HONEY-BEE FORAGING BEHAVIOR

We identified two genomic regions that affect the amount of pollen sto red in honey bee colonies and influence whether foragers will collect pollen or nectar. We selected for the amount of pollen stored in combs of honey bee colonies, a colony-level trait, and then used random amp lified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and interval mapping procedures with data from backcross colonies to identify two quantitative trait l oci (pln1 and pln2, LOD 3.1 and 2.3, respectively). Quantitative trait loci effects were confirmed in a separate cross by demonstrating the cosegregation of marker alleles with the foraging behavior of individu al workers. Both pln1 and pln2 had an effect on the amount of pollen c arried by foragers returning to the colony, as inferred by the associa tion between linked RAPD marker alleles, D8-.3f and 301-.55, and the i ndividual pollen load weights of returning foragers. The alleles of th e two marker loci were nonrandomly distributed with respect to for agi ng task. The two loci appeared to have different effects on foraging b ehavior. individuals with alternative alleles for the marker linked to pln2 (but not pln1) differed with respect to the nectar sugar concent ration of their nectar loads.