"An example: the default for any fertilized bee egg is to become a drone.
It is only if that egg possesses a different allele of the sex determinant
gene on each of its two chromosomes that it will become a female.  But the
sex determinant gene does not code for any feminine property--it simply
upregulates the expression of the Feminize gene, which in turn upregulates
an entire suite of genes responsible for the differences between a male or
female bee."

???  I am confused..  I thought fertilized default is female??  Unfertilized
male???


"That feminized egg then can (still
without any genetic change whatsoever) develop either into a queen (the
default) or a worker."  

And this is even more confusing,  up until today my understand is this is a
dietary issue, better and correct diet allowing the development to be
completed,  or in the case of workers slightly underdeveloped.??



And I'm not even discussing the possibility of further
differentiation of an individual worker into either a diuntinus bee or a
"normal" worker (which then physiologically and behaviorally changes over
its life from cleaner to nurse to mid age behavior to forager physiology
and behavior).

I was understanding from Genes work,  this also is controlled by
Chemical/hormonal changes within the hive?  I think he called it suppression
of a growth??  

Charles

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