Females use sperm to activate eggs, but then produce clones of themselves.
There is a species of worm in which the females only produce males for their sperm, scientists have discovered. The reproductive strategy, thought to be unique to nematodes, ensures no genetic material from males ever enters the female population and keeps the population stable.
Delattre and her team have now carried out genetic analysis of the nematodes to find out exactly what is going on. Their findings, published in the journal Science, revealed their bizarre reproduction strategy. The team found that females need the male sperm to activate their eggs—but most of the time no genetic material is passed on, meaning all the females were clones. However, 9 percent of the time, a male was produced. When genetic material from a male was used after the egg was fertilized, a male was always produced. These males could only reproduce with their female siblings and could only pass on their genetic material to sons—meaning their DNA would never enter the female gene pool.
But why keep males around at all? Delattre says that if certain mutations arise, eventually these nematodes might become an all-female species. “It is clear that if a mutation emerges in these population that would allow females to develop without the males, the mutation will invade the population and these males would disappear,” she said. “But we think that if they keep this reproductive system it is because there is no mutation that allows this.
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