Re: News: No sex for 40 million years? No problem for 1 organism

Rich Townsend wrote:

John Harshman wrote:

Ye Old One wrote:


No sex for 40 mln years? No problem for 1 organism
Reuters
By Michael Kahn Reuters - 2 hours 10 minutes ago

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071011/thl-uk-sex-survival-b2e59e8_1.html

LONDON (Reuters) - One microscopic organism has thrived despite
remaining celibate for tens of millions of years thanks to a neat
evolutionary trick, researchers said.

Asexual reproduction has allowed duplicate gene copies of the
single-celled creatures -- called bdelloid rotifers -- to become
different over time.

Ah, science journalism. Rotifers are not single-celled.

And it should seem obvious that if meiosis never happens, homologous
chromosomes will diverge to produce an effectively haploid genome.
What's the surprise?


What, so that each homologous pair of chromosomes (assuming we started as
diploid) drifts so far apart that they're no longer homologous?

Well, no longer detectably homologous. For an example of this, just look
at your X and Y chromosomes.

[snip]

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: News: No sex for 40 million years? No problem for 1 organism
    ... By Michael Kahn Reuters - 2 hours 10 minutes ago ... LONDON - One microscopic organism has thrived despite ... Asexual reproduction has allowed duplicate gene copies of the ... so that each homologous pair of chromosomes (assuming we started as ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: News: No sex for 40 million years? No problem for 1 organism
    ... By Michael Kahn Reuters - 2 hours 10 minutes ago ... LONDON - One microscopic organism has thrived despite ... Asexual reproduction has allowed duplicate gene copies of the ... so that each homologous pair of chromosomes (assuming we started as ...
    (talk.origins)