> He had isolated the genes which caused aggression and had sent semen to the lab from AHb without the aggressive genes. Nobody in the 1950s had the capacity to "remove" genes of any kind, even if there were specific genes which "cause" aggression, which there aren't. In the following reference they state: "Aggression is a complex, polygenic trait" which means that there are numerous genes involved, and these are turned on or off by environmental and other influences. None of this was known by Kerr or anyone else, in the 1950s. All honey bee colonies respond aggressively when their colony is disturbed or attacked, but there is striking variation in the intensity of their response. In docile colonies only a few bees may respond, whereas in more aggressive colonies, the response may involve hundreds or even thousands of stinging individuals. AHB mostly have A. m. scutellata-like behavioral traits, especially a highly aggressive colony defense. Aggression is a complex, polygenic trait. AHB and EHB differed in the expression of hundreds of genes, with the strongest differences seen in those bees most-strongly engaged in colony defense. Environmental effects were seen both in terms of effects of alarm pheromone and colony environment on brain gene expression. "Honey bee aggression supports a link between gene regulation and behavioral evolution" PNAS. September 8, 2009 Contributed by Gene E. Robinson *********************************************** 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 Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm