线粒体DNA是动物细胞核外唯一的遗传物质，具有结构简单、进化速度快、母系遗传和基因重组率小等特点。文章在介绍蜜蜂线粒体DNA的结构大小及其多态性的研究的基础上，对其在蜜蜂的种间多态性、亚种间及亚种内多态性、起源进化、群体遗传结构及基因流动、亚种及类型的分类等方面的研究应用进行阐述。

Mitochondrial DNA is the only hereditary material outside the zooblast nucleus, and has many characteristics such as simple structure, fast evolution, low ratio of gene rearrangement and maternal inheritance. The structure, size and diversity of honybee mtDNA were introduced in this paper. Meanwhile, the research and applications of mtDNA in honybee  genetic analyses were also discussed.