Long-Term Asexual Reproduction Discovered for the First Time in a Prehistoric Species

A new study was conducted regarding the possibility of an asexual reproduction that can go through a long period of time. The research was conducted by international zoology and evolutionary biology experts and had an ancient beetle mite known as the Oppiella nova as their subject. The species are known to have survived long amounts of time without conducting a natural sexual reproduction. The ability of the animal to maintain its asexual reproduction is known to be rare and even impossible in the broad list of various species.

Oppiella Nova and the Meselson Effect

The University of Cologne and experts from the University of Göttingen, France's University of Montpellier, and Switzerland's University of Lausanne conducted a collaborative effort to analyze the puzzle pieces from the prehistoric beetle mite species reaction known as the Meselson effect. According to Futurism, the Oppiella nova species usually affected by the Meselson effect expresses a genome structure that translates to pure asexual reproduction.

Sexual reproduction is among the biological and evolutionary factors considered essential for the diversity and continuation of a species lineage through its offspring. Sexual reproduction is a complex process that involves the combination of two distinct genomes. Most species they reproduce sexually, including other beetles and humans, have two sets of chromosomes in each cell. Through this process, the copies of genomes are ensured to be mixed with another parent genome to produce a diverse outcome. While these sexual developments must be met by two copies of the genome from separate individuals, there are species that express both the same copies in themselves.

Sexual reproduction could also be processed by species that are known to be asexually reproducing. These unique species can create genetic clones out of the original for beneficial factors. Cloning their genomes allows asexual species to adapt to several circumstances throughout their evolution. However, this genetic process causes genetic defects to sexual species, causing the manifestation of mutations in their genes. In some cases, cloning genes of the same individual change their genetic information that could be unique in each individual.

Asexual Reproduction in Evolution

The Meselson effect identifies the outcome of this genetic development in species that are asexual. University of Lausanne's Department of Ecology and Evolution expert Tanja Schwander said that even though the concept of the Meselson effect seems to be a simple genetic study, there has been no defining evidence that supports its presence in animals.

Oppiella nova's ability over asexual reproduction could be disadvantageous for its natural life. This raises many questions in the evolutionary biology field. But the species existence is also the answer experts were looking for since the Oppiella nova existed millennials ago in a community exclusively for females. Because of this, their colonies are often described as ancient asexual scandals. They have been the greatest evidence yet in terms of asexual reproduction. University of Lausanne expert and lead author of the study Alexander Brandt said that there is a possibility of more unusual sexual exchange that could be cryptic or yet to be discovered. The study was published in the journal PNAS, titled "Haplotype divergence supports long-term asexuality in the oribatid mite Oppiella nova."

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