>Taking the result at face value, could it be that pinching year old queens is eliminating genetics and epigenetic processes for longevity?
Along these lines, this supposition is put forward in the study and is a thought-provoking idea to puzzle over:
'Intriguingly, pathogens and parasites that affect adult honey bees are less immediately destructive as compared to diseases of the brood. Pathogens that do not kill adult bees outright are able to accumulate within the population, so colonies with shorter lived bees would have reduced pathogen and disease loads when compared to those with longer lived bees. In this scenario, colonies with shorter lived bees would appear healthier and would be favored by breeders, who may be inadvertently selecting for reduced lifespans in adult bees.'
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