Are the genes for suppressed mite reproduction dominant or recessive?
The VSH trait is thought to be controlled by more than one gene, just how many is uncertain at this point. These genes are neither dominant nor recessive. They are what is called “additive” which simply means that the more of them that are present, the more strongly the trait will be expressed. This works in favor of beekeepers since a queen with VSH genes can mate to any drones and still have the trait expressed in her colony enough to reduce the mite population. So naturally mated queens produced from pure VSH breeders are mite resistant. Who should buy pure VSH breeder queens? Pure VSH breeder queens should be used for queen rearing purposes. The best way to get the maximum amount of the trait into a line of bees is to begin with a pure VSH breeder queen so her daughters mate with your local drones. Daughter queens of pure VSH breeders who are out crossed by natural mating have good brood production and an acceptable level of mite resistance. The naturally mated daughters of these b
