It's Game of Thrones for honeybees: scientists at Penn State University have published a paper with their findings on genetically-inherited altruistic behavior in bees, and their results seem to indicate that if left in a hive with an empty throne, bees will compete with one another to lay the most eggs in an attempt to hatch as many new offspring as possible rather than remaining sterile.

Led by entomologists Christina Grotzinger, David Queller and David Galbraith, the study, which is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, dissects the theory of kin selection, which dictates that parents will put the survivalhood of their offspring before their own. When applied to how honeybees are traditionally viewed — as workers who will more or less die or kill for the sanctity of their hive — kin selection throws this perspective off-kilter. According to the study, matrigenes (genes that come from the mother, in this case, the queen bee) take over for the function that patrigenes (genes that come from the father, or worker bee) and what ensues is a sort of procreative competition rather than remaining sterile.

The study itself developed from research Queller had previously conducted. In 2003, the scientist published a paper that posited that this type of conflict arises from an unequal distribution of matrigenes and patrigenes.

"We usually think of honey bees as ideal cooperators, with all the members of the colony working together harmoniously," Grozinger said. "Our studies demonstrate that there is actually conflict — called intragenomic conflict — among the genes inherited from the father and those inherited from the mother." 

"It is very strange to think that your genes might be fighting with each other based on whether they came from your mother or your father," added Queller. "Yet, this is just what we found. It turns out that when a queen dies, worker bees behave the way their fathers want them to, producing sons when possible." 

Source: Penn State University

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