Drone (male honey bee)
Are the drones, sons of a selectively bred queen of the “F0” generation, genetically identical (same DNA)?
- YES
- NO
View answer
Correct answer: NO
The drone originates from an unfertilized egg (ovum) and therefore inherits only the genotype of its mother, as it has no father; however, due to haplodiploidy (16 chromosomes instead of 32 in the queen), it receives only half of a recombined set of the maternal genetic material.
Even under very intensive selection, brother drones are not identical, because their genes (16 chromosomes) are randomly selected from the queen’s genome (32 chromosomes).
The drone, originating from an unfertilized egg, inherits the genotype of its mother entirely, but due to haplodiploidy, it receives only half of a recombined version of this genetic material.
Meiosis: during the division of germ cells in the queen’s ovaries, the number of chromosomes is reduced by half. In these germ cells, the genes of the queen’s father and mother are distributed randomly.
This is why each ovum (and thus each male) possesses a different genetic makeup.
See also:
► Drones, the indispensable luxury…
► Drone breeding