Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
Article: Imagine a lineage made up solely of women. Generation after generation, these females pilfer genes from males—not mating and reproducing in the usual way, but using sex as a means to collect genetic material that they can parcel out to their offspring in seemingly any configuration. A few genes here, a few genes there, generation after generation. It's not some Themyscira-esque fantasy: some lady salamanders have been carrying on this way for millions of years.
The strange reproductive behaviors of the genus Ambystoma aren't new to science. Researchers have known for some time that one lineage of these animals—a line of salamanders that only ever have female offspring—persist by collecting the genetic material of males from several other species in the genus. But in case this is your first time encountering the fantastical world of "kleptogenesis" (side note: great word), here's a run-down.
Many members of the salamander genus Ambystoma are sexual creatures—by which we mean males drop sperm packets to fertilize female eggs, producing offspring with a set of genetic instructions from each of their two parents. But unisexual Ambystoma lizards do it better. These females pick up those packets, but they can gather more than one with which to fertilize their eggs. And once they do, it seems to be up to them to decide which parts of the genome—if any—they use from each of their mates.
"Most vertebrates that reproduce in ways that involve only females end up being sperm-dependent in one way or another," says Maurine Neiman, associate professor in biology at the University of Iowa. Many of those lineages become "sperm parasites", requiring sperm to penetrate their eggs in order to trigger development into embryos. They need that sperm to get things going, but they throw the genetic material away—essentially creating clone daughters while obeying the reproductive mechanics developed by their sexually reproducing ancestors.
"Superficially, these salamanders seem to have a lot in common with those other females," Neiman says. But in fact, their "bizarre" method of reproduction has never been documented in another animal. And it's kept them alive for much longer than other methods of makeshift asexual reproduction.
How a female-only line of salamanders 'steals' genes from unsuspecting males
This article presents information on a weird evolutionary spin on sexual reproduction- which it identifies as 'kleptogenesis'- that allows for the 'klepto' specie to absorb the genetic traits of multiple other species, and to pass multiple genomes on to it's children.
Which, honestly, seems pretty neat.
