Abstract
Whilst parthenogenesis has evolved multiple times from sexual invertebrate and vertebrate lineages, the drivers and consequences of the sex-asex transition remain mostly uncertain. A model by Stouthamer et al. recently published in BMC Evolutionary Biology shows a pathway by which obligate asexuality could be selected for following endosymbiont infection.See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/229
Highlights
Whilst parthenogenesis has evolved multiple times from sexual invertebrate and vertebrate lineages, the drivers and consequences of the sex-asex transition remain mostly uncertain
One of the more remarkable recent experiments on the origin of asexuality demonstrated that certain haplodiploid taxa could be ‘cured’ of asexuality when treated with antibiotics [5]
Haplodiploid taxa, which include many social insects such as termites and wasps, produce males from unfertilized eggs and females from fertilized eggs. This demonstration [5] was explained by the fact that parthenogenesis can arise from manipulation by endosymbionts
Summary
Whilst parthenogenesis has evolved multiple times from sexual invertebrate and vertebrate lineages, the drivers and consequences of the sex-asex transition remain mostly uncertain. Haplodiploid taxa, which include many social insects such as termites and wasps, produce males from unfertilized eggs and females from fertilized eggs. In arrhenotokous haplodiploid taxa (such as the parasitoid wasps studied by Stouthamer et al [4,5]), this can be achieved by the parasite taking haploid unfertilized eggs that would develop into males and diploidizing their genome, such that they develop as females.
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