Scientists have identified a group of worker honeybees specially adapted to construct the queen's waxy abode within the hive. These bees effectively run a fever to melt and blend special chemicals into the wax, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
Worker bees perform a myriad of jobs to maintain the hive, including collecting food, nurturing young bees, and caring for the queen, who lays all the eggs. The newly identified bees are younger and exhibit gene expression patterns that make them uniquely suited for building the queen's peanut-shaped home. This home is made of softer wax with a higher melting point than the wax used for worker bees' cells.
Rethinking Queen Bee Development
Queens are raised on royal jelly secreted from worker bees' glands, and scientists long believed diet was the main factor in creating a monarch. The new findings suggest the queen's environment also plays a role. Researchers raised baby queens in cups capped with either queen wax or worker wax. Despite consuming royal jelly, queens raised in worker wax were smaller and had lower survival rates.
"For centuries, we believed 'you are what you eat' was the only rule for making a queen bee. Our study rewrites that rule to say 'you are where you live, too,'" said Kai Wang, a study co-author with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Implications and Future Research
The findings offer a rare glimpse inside the hive but leave many questions unanswered. Honeybees pollinate crops like blueberries, squash, watermelon, and almonds. Further research is needed to understand the secret lives of queen cell-building bees and the exact combination of factors that produce the hive's leader.
"I would really like to know more about the specific chemical composition of this wax and which active ingredients are directly affecting the growth of the queens," said bee researcher Julia Bowsher of North Dakota State University, who was not involved in the study.
