With the global prevalence of Varroa mites, more and more beekeepers resort to confining the queen bee in a queen cage to control mite infestation or to breed superior and robust queen bees. However, the impact of such practices on the queen bee remains largely unknown. Therefore, we sub...

Previous studies have found that gut microbiota and metabolites may be crucial in insect sexual maturation. For example, during sexual maturity, the increased dopamine in the drone's brain can affect its reproductive behavior, such as flight, mating, etc. In addition, gut microbiota can affect br...