NEW YORK – A team of scientists has discovered a special group of worker honeybees tasked with constructing the queen bee’s waxy dwelling inside the hive.
While worker bees are known for their diverse roles such as foraging for food, tending to young bees, and attending to the queen, who is the sole egg layer, new findings highlight a unique responsibility. These bees, specifically designated to build the queen’s chambers, generate heat to melt and integrate particular chemicals into the wax.
“It was previously unconsidered that there might be a specialized faction of workers dedicated to crafting these queen cells,” remarked Julia Bowsher, a bee researcher at North Dakota State University, who was not involved in the research.
The bees identified in this study were notably younger, displaying unique gene expression patterns that equipped them for this task. The resulting peanut-shaped chambers featured a softer wax with a higher melting threshold compared to the wax used for the workers’ cells.
Traditionally, it has been thought that a diet of royal jelly, secreted by worker bees, was the principal factor in queen development. However, recent insights published in the journal Nature suggest the queen’s immediate environment might also contribute significantly.
To explore this hypothesis, scientists raised potential queens in containers sealed with either queen-specific or worker-specific wax. Even when fed royal jelly, those nurtured in worker wax were notably smaller and faced higher mortality rates.
“For centuries, we believed ‘you are what you eat’ was the only rule for making a queen bee. Our study rewrites that rule to say ‘you are where you live, too,’” Kai Wang, a study co-author with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an email.
The findings offer a rare look inside the hive, but questions remain.
Honeybees pollinate and ensure the survival of crops such as blueberries, squash, watermelon and almonds. Further research is needed to learn more about the secret lives of queen cell-building bees and the exact combination of factors that produce the hive’s head honcho.
“I would really like to know more about the specific chemical composition of this wax and which active ingredients are directly affecting the growth of the queens,” Bowsher said.
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