Good questions Bill.  Let's use Occam's Razor.  The simplest explanation
for caste determination is that workers are simply starved queens.  What
they are starved for is total jelly, as well as supplemental sugar.

I find the three recent studies that suggested that caste differentiation
was a result of one of the above to all be questionable:

   1. Quercitin in pollen,
   2. Royalactin
   3. Micr RNAs

In the first place, I find little evidence that either queen or worker
larvae need to be fed any pollen whatsoever.  The royalactin hypothesis has
been disputed by another study.  The microRNAs in beebread may have nothing
to do with the jelly actually fed to queen larvae.

I would like to see a simple study performed by feeding larva nothing more
that different amounts of jelly, with the group receiving more jelly also
fed more sugar.  There may also be an effect of the proportion of HP gland
and mandibular gland secretions.  If these simple factors differentiate
caste, then we likely need to look no further.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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