![]() ![]() ![]() So every individual, male or female has a unique genotype, no two bees are the same. They carry 32 chromosomes in each of their cells, so are diploid, two sets of chromosomes.Įvery bee is unique because of recombination of the queen’s chromosomes during egg formation (meiosis). Females, either workers or queens, get a set of 16 chromosomes from both the egg and the sperm. Since he receives a random half of the queens genes in a single set of 16 chromosomes he is termed haploid. The key point is that drones hatch from eggs which are not fertilized by sperm. It explains why it makes genetic sense for the workers to not lay eggs, but to instead work cooperatively with their sisters to help the queen reproduce. This haplo/diploid genetic system is a key factor in why be es have developed as social insects. In fact, it is the the odd genetic quirk of the drone hatching from an unfertilized egg, and thus having only one parent, that makes breeding bees different than breeding any other animal. Haplo/diploidy is key in explaining the nature of bees That makes bee breeding both more complex and interesting than breeding any other animal on earth. ![]() In the process we will also discover some of the fundamental reasons why bees organize into such successful societies.Īs beekeepers we are working with colonies rather than just individual animals. This is a mystery that we will solve by the end of this talk. A drone only has one parent, and a single set of genes, so he should either have the normal dark eyes or a mutation like this white eye, but not both. Take a good look at this drone because he appears to be a paradox. I have looked at around one billion bees over the last 30 years, and in all of those bees, this is the only one I’ve seen quite like this one. ![]()
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