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Genomic signature of sexual reproduction in a Bdelloid rotifer
Authors: Veronika Laine 1; Timothy Sackton 2; Matthew Meselson 2
Affiliations: 1) Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; 2) Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Keywords: Other (Sexual Reproduction)
Bdelloid rotifers, common freshwater invertebrates of ancient origin and worldwide distribution have long been thought to be entirely asexual, posing a challenge to hypotheses for the evolutionary advantage of sex. That bdelloids do reproduce sexually, although only occasionally, is shown by a study of allele sharing within a mitochondrial clade of the bdelloid species Macrotrachella quadricornifera, supporting the view that sexual reproduction is universally essential for long-term evolutionary success in eukaryotes.