There are probably multiple genes that govern aggression/defensiveness.  I say that simply because it is so rare that only one gene is involved in any trait.  Almost all those single trait examples you learned about in genetics 101 were simply made up facts.  In some cases we do not even know if the traits are even genetic or simply developmental range of expression effects.  Many of the aggression/defensiveness traits are either dominants or strong co-dominants so it makes no difference at all if they come from the queen mother or from the drones a daughter queen mates with.  Either way you end up with a tough hive to deal with.  Also, there probably is a difference between aggression and defensiveness.  In the former case you are talking about bees that will follow you still attacking after you have gone perhaps 50 or even 100 yards from the hive.  In the latter case the bees may attack you with a lot of vigor when you open the hive, but not follow you far when you back off.  It is likely the genetics that result in these two types of behavior are not exactly the same.  Then there are things about this behavior that are total puzzles.  In some cases crossing two different unrelated P1s that are both quite reasonable in temper can result in F1s that are miserable to handle.  Why this happens is not known.  But, it must be because a mix of two alleles, both of which are not a problem when homozygous, can result in bad behavior.  If you think this is not reasonable remember when you only have one kind of sex allele you get a male and when you have two different sex alleles you get a female.  Obviously, a heterozygous animal can be very different from a homozygous animal.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html