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Related Experiment Videos

No slave to sex.

Isabelle Schön1, Koen Martens

  • 1Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Freshwater Biology, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. isa.shoen@naturalsciences.be

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|May 10, 2003
PubMed
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Ancient asexual organisms, like Darwinula stevensoni, maintain low genetic diversity. This study reveals somatic mutations and gene conversion, not rare sex, explain this phenomenon in these long-term asexual lineages.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics
  • Asexual Reproduction

Background:

  • Asexual lineages face challenges purging mutations, potentially leading to high genetic divergence (Meselson effect).
  • Homogenizing mechanisms can counteract mutation accumulation, maintaining low genetic diversity in asexuals.
  • The ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni provides a model to study these evolutionary strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the genetic diversity and evolutionary mechanisms in the ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni.
  • To determine if low genetic diversity is maintained by somatic mutations, gene conversion, or rare sexual reproduction.
  • To compare the evolutionary strategies of Darwinulidae with other ancient asexuals like bdelloid rotifers.

Main Methods:

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  • Analysis of nucleotide sequence divergence in three nuclear regions of Darwinula stevensoni.
  • Comparison of genetic diversity between embryonic and adult stages to identify somatic mutations.
  • Application of likelihood permutation tests to detect gene conversion and evaluate the role of rare sex.

    • Main Results:

    • Darwinula stevensoni exhibits very low nucleotide sequence divergence across studied nuclear regions.
    • Somatic mutations account for a significant portion (up to 50%) of genetic changes observed in adult ostracods.
    • Gene conversion was detected in the internal transcribed spacer sequence, but rare or cryptic sex was rejected as a primary explanation for low diversity.

    Conclusions:

    • Low genetic diversity in Darwinula stevensoni is likely maintained by mechanisms other than rare sexual reproduction, such as somatic mutation and gene conversion.
    • Efficient DNA repair or other specialized mechanisms may counteract mutational load and Muller's ratchet in this ancient asexual.
    • Ancient asexual groups like bdelloids and darwinulids may employ distinct evolutionary strategies to persist over long timescales without sex.