Roles in the Hive Can Change DNA

According to an article recently published on Nature, the changing of a bee's role in the hive can cause reversible changes in it's behavior associated DNA. When a honeybee is born, it is the same as all other newborn bees. However, a change soon takes place and the bee takes on a role within the hive. This role could be queen or worker. The role is not just a behavioral one, though. Epigenetic changes occur and methyl molecules are added to sections of their DNA, altering the way the gene is expressed. The bee then takes on their role for life.

Researchers performed experiments and found that bees within worker sub-divisions could change their roles, if need be. To find this, the researchers removed all of the nurse bees from the hive as the foragers went out to retrieve pollen. When the forager bees returned, they noticed the lack of nurses and about half of the foragers took on the role instead. The intriguing part, however, is that nurse bees and forager bees have very different methylation patterns. The methylation patterns of the DNA in forager bees actually switched to those of the nurse bees when they changed roles.

Scientists believe that this discovery could help us find insights on human biology. They believe that epigenetic effects may be expressed through addiction, learning and memory. I think that this finding has the potential to do great things for humans. Finding a way to reverse epigenetic marks that cause disease or physical issues in humans would be a huge in helping to find a cure for things such as cancer.