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The bee genome has a superpower. Not only can the exact same DNA sequence yield three types of insect—worker, drone, and queen—that look and behave very differently, but, in the case of workers, it dictates different sets of behaviors.
A key to the genome’s versatility seems to be epigenetic changes—chemical tags that, when added or removed from DNA, change the activity of a gene. Previous studies had shown distinct patterns of tags known as methyl groups on the genomes of bees performing different roles within their hives.
In a study published in Genome Research last month, Paul Hurd, an epigenetics researcher at Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues looked at a different type of epigenetic change: histone modifications. DNA wraps around histones, and chemical modifications to these proteins are thought to affect how available genes are to be transcribed.
In their new study, the researchers ...
