It may be unrealistic to expect a superior "game changer" bee to  
become the predominant genotype in vast regions or countries.  Bee  
breeding is far behind the practice for other agricultural animals or  
plants.  Despite the visibility, it is a small industry with  
relatively small markets for any innovation.  Other realities make the  
practice especially difficult: the production unit is a complex  
superorganism in which it is impossible to directly measure  
characteristics on reproductives, the odd resistance mechanisms of  
social insects seem to center on social immunity, the open mating  
system of honey bees, and no good method to preserve germplasm.

There is a short list of examples in which artificial selection and  
controlled mating has produced new genotypes with defined  
characteristics of some potential value.  The fact that the genotypes  
produced by these breeding programs have not become predominant does  
not necessarily mean that a breeding program was not successful. 
  

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