Draft:Behaviors Associated with Autism Found in Honey Bees

Background

The biologist, E. O. Wilson proposed that shared evolutionary origins are the reasoning for why human and animal social structures have similarities. This was a hypothesis E.O. Wilson proposed in his book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis in 1975. Commonalities in behavior between species due to similar molecular mechanisms have been studied to test the hypothesis of shared evolutionary lineage. Behaviors in honey bees were researched due to their highly complex social structures and communication. Studies were conducted to observe the honey bees' response to social stimuli and compare the results to human social behavior. The researchers then correlated specific bee genes with unresponsive bees and compared this to genes found to be associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Primary Research

The most prominent and available research on social behaviors in bees was published in a paper titled, “Deep evolutionary conservation of autism-related genes” by Shipgler et al. in 2017. In this paper, they explain how they conducted two main tests to determine how honey bees would respond with different social interactions. The first social situation was the introduction of an unrelated bee to see if the bees in the trial responded aggressively. The second social situation was the introduction of a queen larva in a queen cell to see if the trial bees had nurturing behaviors. They then created an RNA sequence for genes in the mushroom body, a part of the honey bee brain responsible for sensory input. They analyzed the derived genes from the unresponsive honey bees with SFARI genes that have been found to be associated with autism.

Takeaways

In comparing differently expressed genes in the unresponsive bees with genes found in the SFARI database, it was found that there was statistically significant overlap. This demonstrates the idea that genes influence social unresponsiveness. This research further supports the idea that there is likely a genetic basis for behaviors associated with ASD. Despite these results, the researchers were not able to determine if the similarities in genetic mechanisms for social behaviors in humans and honey bees are in favor of E. O. Wilson’s hypothesis regarding shared evolutionary lineage, as it is possible this is an example of convergent evolution.

Ethical Application

While it is important to note the significance of new scientific discoveries regarding bee behavior and ASD, it is also important to consider how this information can be used ethically. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that is a spectrum, where individuals can be anywhere from fully independent to needing significant support in everyday life. Advancements in understanding the genetic background of ASD could make it easier for individuals to receive a diagnosis in the future when traditionally the diagnosis process is long, expensive, and biased towards the presentation of autism in young males. However, it is important to listen to the voices of those diagnosed with autism. Many autistic advocates have expressed that despite the challenges autism presents, it comes with a lot of strengths and is not something that they would want “cured.” Moving forward, it is important that this scientific information is used ethically to meet the needs and wants of the autism community.