image: Worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) on a pollen comb. Pollen is mixed with honey and processed into beebread, which is fed to worker-destined larvae. A phytochemical in beebread alters gene expression patterns and contributes to determining whether female larvae become queens or workers. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Aug. 28, 2015, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by W. Mao at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, IL, and colleagues was titled, 'A dietary phytochemical alters caste-associated gene expression in honey bees.' view more
Credit: [Credit: Photograph by Terry Harrison]