A protein-rich food substance that is secreted from the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of nurse honeybees and fed to the newly hatched larvae. For the first three days after hatching, larvae that will develop into worker bees are fed on royal jelly, after which their diet changes to pollen and nectar. However, larvae that will develop into queen bees continue to be fed exclusively on royal jelly throughout the larval stage. This special diet contains an ingredient that silences a particular gene, Dnmt3, that encodes an enzyme involved in epigenetic silencing of hundreds of genes. When these genes are inactive, the bee larva develops into a worker; but when Dnmt3 is itself silenced, these genes are switched on, leading to the development of a queen with all the necessary attributes, such as functional ovaries, a larger body, and sexual behaviours.