Abstract
Before the 4th instar larval phase, worker larvae exhibit totipotency to
develop into either female caste. In subsequent larval stages, differential expression of
various genetic elements occurs under the prominent induction of royal jelly,
developmental hormones, and volatile queen emission. In the honey bee female caste,
anatomical reproductive disproportionality establishes due to this diversification of
genomic expression. Exponential fertility and pheromonal profiling of the queen
regulate colonial strength, colonial productivity, submissive behaviour, and the
development of workers. Different factors prevailing within the hive or outside of the
colony premises influence the queen's quality. For example, the queen's fecundity is
negatively proportional to the age of the worker larva before entering the queen
differentiation pathway. Further, numerous additional factors like genomic content,
physiology, quality and quantity of royal jelly, colonial food storage, social
environment, queen pheromones, etc. influence queen reproductive potential.
Further, queens have differential immune protective characteristics for different pathogens and parasites. This chapter highlights influencing factors for nonsynchronous ovarian development and variant immune-protective measures in female honey bees. The subsequent chapters elucidate the details of workers' ovarian programmed cell death under the regulation of multiple factors.