For the social life of people and beekeeping, universal mechanisms are a scientist

Several genetic options associated with the social behavior of honey bees are found in genes that were previously associated with the social behavior of people. Thus, social behavior has ancient roots that are preserved in different types.

This is evidenced by the results of a study by scientists from the University of Illinois (USA), reports Eurekalert.

Social species have individual differences in sociability – some people are very sociable and have a wide range of communication in their society, while others prefer less intense social interaction, the article says.

It is noted that these differences can be caused by many factors, including mood, social status, previous experience and genetics. However, genetic and molecular mechanisms that affect sociability have not yet been well studied.

Researchers used a combination of sequencing of the genome, analysis of the expression of brain genes and behavior to explore the genetic mechanisms that underlie the variations of the social behavior of Western bees (APIS Mellifera):

• They collected adult honey bees of three colonies and attached tiny troops -codes to their bodies, which allowed them to automatically track their social behavior in the hive with glass walls;
• The sequence of the entire genome of 357 bees found 18 genetic options associated with the tendency to share nutrients with neighbors in nesting behavior known as “tropalaxis”;
• Some of these options were located in two genes: neuroligin-2 and nmdar2, which have a similar sequence with genes that were previously associated with autism in people. Sequencing of transcription also discovered more than 900 genes that were more pronounced in the brain, the more often the bee interacts with its neighbors in the nest.

The results emphasize the similarity of the genetic mechanisms that underlie the social behavior of people and bees – species that scattered more than 600 million years ago, the article says.

It is noted that sociality is a complex characteristic that is controlled by many genes, but these general genomic features indicate the existence of ancient molecular structural blocks of social life, which survived over millions of years of evolution, even if people and bees developed socially independently.

The main feature of all societies is that members of the group often interact with each other, but have a different tendency to do this – scientists emphasize. – We determined the evolutionarily preserved molecular roots of sociability common to different species, including people.

Source: Eurekalert

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David

I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.