> What is the definition of a gene?  The usual definition is a gene is a unit of inheritance.  I do not see anything in that definition that says a thing about DNA.

Right, the idea of the "gene" preceded the discovery of any sort of mechanism that makes heredity work. The lab where I work is focused on Reproductive Genomics, the study of sections of the genome which have discrete functions. When people use the term gene, they know it's obsolete, just like when we say the sun "sets." 

In terms of heritability, it appears that other things besides DNA get passed from generation to generation, these could be called epigenetic, but if genetics is mainly about heredity, it would include all of the mechanisms that constitute what is passed on from one generation to the next. 

The original point was that we appear no further along in our understanding of what controls behavior in bees, even though it is unquestionably heritable. In other words, we know there are traits that can be intensified by breeding, but we don't exactly know how to control it. Selection is one way, by picking and eliminating, but that is sort of a black box approach. 

But even if we knew nothing about how inheritance works, if we were able to identify so-called markers that represent the inheritance of traits, then this would have value in the effort to direct breeding towards some particular goal. I think that is what researchers are trying to do: not necessarily figure out what "genes" control what traits, but what is the genetic signature of a trait.

PLB

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