South Asian Research Journal of Biology and Applied Biosciences (SARJBAB)
Volume-8 | Issue-04
Original Research Article
Morphological, Genetic and Chemical Composition Variations of Honey from the Honeybee (Hymenoptera; Apidae) Apis mellifera in Northern Iraq
Ahmed Faisal Mohammed Al-Azzawi
Published : Aug. 20, 2026
Abstract
Objective: The molecular genetic and phenotypic relationship between four populations of Iraqi worker honeybees (Apis mellifer) was studied. These four populations are from northern Iraq, specifically from four districts in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Materials and Methods: Fifty worker honeybees were collected from the Sulaymaniyah Governorate for the purpose of studying and determining their genetic and phenotypic structure. The phenotypic characteristics of the honeybees included in this study are: forewing length, forewing width, wing venation, number of cells per wing, presence of wing reticulum, dorsal abdominal color, ventral abdominal color, eye color, head length and width, and the extent of genetic similarity and difference between honeybee strains by determining the DNA sequence of the mitochondrial gene region (COX2). Gas chromatography (GG-Mass) was also used to analyze honeydew tissue from the honeybees. Results: The analysis showed that the molecular weight of the COX2 DNA amplification product in worker honeybees (A. mellifera) was 715 bp base pairs in 12 samples from the population. The results indicated slight genetic diversity in the form of point mutations of the deletion and substitution types. A total of 27 mutations were found in the COX2 gene, distributed across the districts of Sulaymaniyah Governorate. These mutations were translocations and substitutions. Regarding the phenotypic study, the results showed that head length was highest in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, reaching 5.1 mm. The genetic distance values revealed that the highest genetic distance was 0.021 between the districts of Juwarta in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, while the lowest was 0.002 between the districts of Sulaymaniyah City Center and Chamchamal in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. The remaining values varied. As for the honey material, the results of the gas chromatography (GC-Mass) showed that (19) organic materials were separated and identified in all the samples. The samples varied in their content of some of these materials or not, as well as in their percentages in the samples. The carbohydrate materials (sugars) mostly constitute a percentage exceeding 80%, meaning that the percentages in the table represent the percentage in the remaining 20% and not within the total percentage of materials in the honey.