What makes a bee a he or a she? Three years ago, scientists pinpointed a gene called csd that determines gender in honey bees, and now a research team led by University of Michigan evolutionary biologist Jianzhi “George” Zhang has unraveled details of how the gene evolved. The new insights could prove useful in designing strategies for breeding honey bees, which are major pollinators of economically important crops–and notoriously tricky to breed.
Key Gene Controlling Eye Lens Development Identified:
Investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered in mouse models that a gene called Six3 is one of the earliest critical regulators controlling lens development in the eye of the mammalian embryo.
Researchers at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology may have found the secret to dazzling goaltending, after they discovered the exact spot a goalie needs to watch to be successful.
Honey Bee Chemoreceptors Found For Smell And Taste:
Honey bees have a much better sense of smell than fruit flies or mosquitoes, but a much worse sense of taste, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Out Of Africa: Scientists Uncover History Of Honey Bee:
“Every honey bee alive today had a common ancestor in Africa” is one conclusion drawn by a team of scientists that probed the origin of the species and the movements of introduced populations, including African “killer” bees in the New World.
New Genetic Analysis Forces Re-draw Of Insect Family Tree:
]]>The family tree covering almost half the animal species on the planet has been re-drawn following a genetic analysis which has revealed new relationships between four major groups of insects.