Going solo: discovery of the first parthenogenetic gordiid (Nematomorpha: Gordiida).

ABSTRACT: Despite the severe fitness costs associated with sexual reproduction, its persistence and pervasiveness among multicellular organisms testifies to its intrinsic, short-term advantages. However, the reproductive assurance hypothesis predicts selection favoring asexual reproduction in sparse populations and when mate finding is difficult. Difficulties in finding mates is especially common in parasites, whose life cycles involve multiple hosts, or being released from the host into the external environment where the parasite can find itself trapped without a sexual partner. To solve this problem and guarantee reproduction, parasites in numerous phyla have evolved reproductive strategies, as predicted by the reproductive assurance hypothesis, such as hermaphroditism or parthenogenesis. However,

SUBMITTER: Hanelt B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3329510 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature