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> On Jun 17, 2017, at 11:19 AM, Bill Hesbach <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hello Everyone
> 
> Just listened to an interesting podcast on honey bee genetics.  Paul Hurd from the Queen Mary University of London is speaking with the podcast host on the topic of honey bee queens and how they are actually the result of epigenetics because it's royal jelly that transforms them into a special cast. 

It may actually be honey and beebread that turns queens into workers, rather than royal jelly that turns workers into queens.  Adding the phytochemical p-coumaric acid to royal jelly causes females with smaller ovaries. This is sort of a subtle distinction, and is still food regulating gene expression which is pretty amazing, but the mechanics may be slightly different than conventional wisdom supposed.

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/7/e1500795 <http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/7/e1500795>

David Baker
To Bee or Not To Bee
Denver, Colorado. USA
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