Genetic tests of ancient asexuality in root knot nematodes reveal recent hybrid origins.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The existence of "ancient asexuals", taxa that have persisted for long periods of evolutionary history without sexual recombination, is both controversial and important for our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of sexual reproduction. A lack of sex has consequences not only for the ecology of the asexual organism but also for its genome. Several genetic signatures are predicted from long-term asexual (apomictic) reproduction including (i) large "allelic" sequence divergence (ii) lack of phylogenetic clustering of "alleles" within morphological species and (iii) decay and loss of genes specific to meiosis and sexual reproduction. These genetic signatures can be hard to assess since it is difficult to demonstrate the allelic nature of very divergent sequences,

SUBMITTER: Lunt DH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2478646 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature