Question 3

(Multiple Choice)

Unlike all other honeybees,worker bees in the South African subspecies Apis mellifera capensis can lay eggs that develop asexually into queens,which makes it possible for them to "nest parasitize" other subspecies of honeybees.This is due to ________.


A) the effects of many genes integrated together (epistasis)
B) a homeotic mutation of a gene in the Hox cluster
C) the appearance of new genes that are paralogous with Hox genes
D) a deletion of nine nucleotides in the gemini transcription factor gene
E) horizontal gene transfer from a distantly related insect species

Answer

D