Single Honeybee Created Millions of Clones Itself, Threatening Colony's Health

Scientists have discovered that a subspecies of South African honeybee is comprised of millions of clones from a single honeybee, thanks to a bizarre genetic jackpot.

For over three decades, the growing army of clones has been found to be a serious threat to the hives of the South African honeybee. Sky News reported that 10% of hives are collapsing each year due to the colonies being filled with the clones that consume their resources but refuse to share in the work.

South African Honeybee Subspecies Cloned Itself

A subspecies of South African honeybees can clone themselves and create more bees like them. Genetic analysis reveals that their cloning habit began on a single honeybee in 1990 that clones itself successfully and produces queens that can take over the hive, according to New Scientist.

The process of asexual reproduction or parthenogenesis is common in lower plants or animals, like ants, aphids, wasps, and bees. However, having an offspring that is identical to the parent is uncommon because genetic material is often mixed up in a process called recombination that could result in an offspring with a slightly different genetic makeup.

It was previously known as the subspecies of Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis) that are capable of creating a perfect copy of itself, according to Benjamin Oldroyd of the University of Sydney.

He added that creating clones that are a perfect copy of the parent could be beneficial as asexual reproduction could often be lethal because one-third of the genes become inbred. But since the Cape honeybee workers are a perfect clone, they remain genetically healthy as their mother.

Honeybee Clones Poses Threat to Colonies

"It's incredible. It's also incredibly dysfunctional," Oldroyd told Live Science, referring to the DNA reshuffling method necessary to hold chromosomes together during the egg-making process of the honeybees that clone themselves. "Yet, somehow they've managed to do it [still lay eggs]. It's insane, I've not heard of anything like this before, anywhere".

The generations of parthenogenic reproduction have accumulated to the loss of genetic material that led to low levels of genetic diversity that are lethal. Most social insects rely on their queen to reproduce, while workers help maintain the colony and protect the brood.

But in the Cape honeybee's case, workers do not work because they can asexually reproduce. Oldroyd said that these bees seemed to develop a dysfunctional attitude that leads to the collapse of the hive. He compared it to cells in a tumor in which it does not matter whether the clones are healthy, as long as there is enough of them to exploit the host.

The single lineage of Cape honeybee workers that take part in this parasitic behavior is responsible for the collapse of 10% of South African honeybee colonies every year.