Regulatory RNA Patterns Associated with Bee Evolution Should Be Interpreted with Caution, but Correlational Studies Should Not Be Entirely Dismissed

In this response to comments by Heneberg (2026) on our recent review, "The evolution of bees: insights from 'omic studies," we continue the scientific conversation about evidence linking RNA regulatory mechanisms to phenotypic traits. We acknowledge that studies connecting small noncoding RNAs and alternative splicing to social behavior phenotypes are largely correlational and should be interpreted with an appropriate level of caution. At the same time, we suggest that such findings may still offer valuable insights, given the hypothesized importance of regulatory mechanisms in social evolution and the substantial body of work in model organisms demonstrating causal links between these processes and phenotypic change.