Honeybees are known for their intricate and regimented social and work cultures. But
research at the University of Illinois draws a connection between laggards — anti-social bees? — and, in humans, autism.
Gene Robinson, professor of entomology and neuroscience and director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, says there are two ways to measure whether a bee is anti-social. Both use a dish with about ten bees.
In one, an intruding bee is brought in. The typical response is for the bees to attack. In the other, a young female is introduced. The normal bees would raise the baby bee to be a queen.
Robinson says genetic samples taken from the aloof bees’ brains are compared with those of autistic people, and there’s a clear overlap.
But don’t draw a hasty conclusion, he says.
“Autism spectrum disorder is very complex,” Robinson tells WTAX News. “It’s a set of conditions, and I do not want to give any impression at all that we are making a simple comparison. Bees are not little humans. Humans are not big bees. ASD is a very serious condition.
Nevertheless, we were intrigued by seeing these bees not responding
to social conditions.”
The next step, says Robinson, is to try to learn more about these genes which drive social behavior.