Domestically raised queens not promiscuous enough

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A lot of theories have been brought forward as to the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder in the honey bee world, including diseases, parasites and ingestion of farm chemicals. Sometimes feeding on genetically modified crops is blamed. The latest theory also has to do with genetics, but it's of the bees themselves, rather than what they feed on. Domestically raised queens, it is argued, aren't promiscuous enough.

The study, conducted by scientists in the department of biological sciences, Wellesley College, in Massachusetts, asserts that in the wild a queen mates with an average of 12 different drones, "and a reported record of 44," resulting in a genetically diverse colony. A domestically raised queen is inseminated by one or two drones.

But there's more than bee genetics involved. The diverse genes of the workers also result in a wider variety of "honey-bee associated" microbes that help to turn pollen collected by bees and cultured in the hive into something called "bee bread" that is high in vitamins and other nutrients. "It is possible that genetic diversity in a honey bee colony may also foster a more diverse bacterial flora, which may in turn confer either a protective or a nutritional advantage to all colony members," the study says.

The Wellesley College study was published on the online peer-reviewed PLoS One website. BF