Sexual and asexual oogenesis require the expression of unique and shared sets of genes in the insect Acyrthosiphon pisum.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although sexual reproduction is dominant within eukaryotes, asexual reproduction is widespread and has evolved independently as a derived trait in almost all major taxa. How asexuality evolved in sexual organisms is unclear. Aphids, such as Acyrthosiphon pisum, alternate between asexual and sexual reproductive means, as the production of parthenogenetic viviparous females or sexual oviparous females and males varies in response to seasonal photoperiodism. Consequently, sexual and asexual development in aphids can be analyzed simultaneously in genetically identical individuals.

Results

We compared the transcriptomes of aphid embryos in the stages of development during which the trajectory of oogenesis is determined for producing sexual or asexual gametes. This stud

SUBMITTER: Gallot A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3313892 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature