The pond-dwelling microscopic invertebrates known as bdelloid rotifers gave up on sexual reproduction more than 40 million years ago but have nevertheless managed to evolve into around 400 distinct species, say researchers inPLoS Biology. The new study challenges the notion that species diversification requires sexual reproduction, as asexual bdelloids display evolutionary patterns similar to those […]
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Asexual Reproduction The First Step To Extinction
When species become asexual they could be taking the first step to extinction, say researchers from Imperial College London. They’ve been studying the genetic structure of Penicillium marneffei, an asexual fungus only found in parts of south-east Asia. Their research, appearing in PLoS Pathogens, found that although P. marneffei spores were able to spread over […]