Home▸Genetics & Evolution▸Haplodiploidy & the csd Gene: Polyandry Lab

🧬 Haplodiploidy & the csd Gene: Polyandry Lab

A 3D brood-comb lab showing how a queen's mating number and the diversity of csd alleles in a population together determine the rate of lethal diploid drones and a colony's genetic diversity.

Genetics & Evolution3DAdvanced60 FPS

A queen bee mates high above the comb with a ring of drones, each a distinct patriline. As she lays, the comb fills cell by cell — most eggs become healthy diploid females, but eggs that happen to inherit two matching csd alleles become non-viable diploid drones, spotted and removed by a nurse bee.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Sex in honey bees is set by ploidy first (haploid drones vs. diploid females) and then refined by the csd locus: a diploid egg homozygous at csd develops into a doomed diploid drone. Fewer csd alleles in the wider population sharply raise this risk.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the queen's mating number and the csd allele diversity in the population, then watch the comb fill with colour-coded patrilines while the diploid-drone rate, genetic diversity index and colony resilience update live.

💡 Did You Know?

A patchy "pepper-pot" brood pattern in a real hive is one of the clearest field signs of a shrinking csd allele pool — a key reason breeders exchange queen stock between distant, unrelated apiaries.

⚙ Under the hood

A 3D brood-comb lab showing how a queen's mating number and the diversity of csd alleles in a population together determine the rate of lethal diploid drones and a colony's genetic diversity.

dnageneschromosomesmutationbreedingpopulation geneticsThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install