'Biological mystery' in South African honey bees

The ability to produce only females gives all South African worker bees the chance to genetically 'regenerate' into a new queen.

The South African honey bee (Cape Honey) is known for its strange ability to produce only female eggs in the form of asexual reproduction - a mysterious feature that science has not explained so far.

However, in a study published on May 8, researchers at the University of Sydney (UoS) of Australia claimed to have deciphered the mystery.

During the study, the scientists identified a unique gene "responsible" for the special ability of the South African honey bee, GB45239, on chromosome 11.

The South African honey bee (Cape Honey). (Photo: sydney.edu.au)

Study author Professor Benjamin Oldroyd said: "This is very interesting. Scientists have been looking for this gene for the past 30 years. Now we know it's on chromosome 11, we solved the mystery ".

Professor Oldroyd also said the team also discovered the gene GB45239 completely unique in honey bees, which itself is also a "biological mystery".

The ability to have only children gives all South African worker bees the chance to genetically "regenerate" into a new queen. For comparison, different worker bees can never give birth to a queen. However, that seemingly equal adaptation comes with a price - "instead of a cooperative society, honey bee colonies are divided by the conflict by any worker bees. be reborn as a new queen ". In other words, when one colony loses the queen, the remaining worker bees will fight and compete with each other to become the mother of the next queen.

According to Professor Oldroyd, the findings not only provide insights into sexual origin and animal populations, but also have a major impact on many fields, from food security to biotechnology. He said: "If we can control a switch that allows animals reproduce asexually, which bring important applications in agriculture, biotechnology and other fields."

Asexual reproduction in animals is a form of reproduction where an individual gives birth to one or more new individuals identical to itself, without the combination of sperm and egg cells. The offspring is formed either from a part of the mother body (dichotomy, fragmentary) or from an egg (virgin) by mitosis. New individuals are the same and the original is the same.