DNA EVIDENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF VARROA-JACOBSONI OUDEMANS IN THE AMERICA

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to examine possible origin of Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans in the Americas. Among 64 primers screened, 2 primers provided variation which was informative for this study, All V. jacobsoni collected from the United Stares had the same banding pattern to that of mires collected from Russia, Morocco, Germ any, Italy, Spain, and Portugal (Russian pattern), This banding patter n was different from the pattern found for mites collected from Japan, Brazil, and Puerto Rico (Japanese pattern). The Japanese pattern lack ed a 766-bp band found in the Russian pattern (OPE-07). With primer OP P-03, the Russian pattern had a distinct band at 442 bp not found in t he Japanese pattern. Two bands located at 675 and 412 bp were specific to the Japanese pattern. These results suggest that the V. jacobsoni of the United States is probably predominantly Russian in origin (via Europe), while the V. jacobsoni of Brazil and Puerto Rico are probably predominantly Japanese in origin.