Asexual Reproduction News and Research

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Asexual reproduction results in more harmful genetic mutations than sexual reproduction

A team led by biologists at The University of Texas at Arlington has published a study supporting the theory that species that reproduce asexually have more harmful genetic mutations than those utilizing sexual reproduction.

1 Aug 2022

Study discovers new role of Hox genes in adulthood

Among their many extraordinary feats, some planarian flatworms reproduce by tearing off pieces of themselves to regenerate new worms.

18 Nov 2021

Selection acting on males causes offspring to inherit healthy gene

A few males are enough to fertilise all the females. The number of males therefore has little bearing on a population's growth. However, they are important for purging bad mutations from the population.

28 Jun 2021

Could the high rate of mutations bring about SARS-CoV-2's extinction in India?

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in August 2020 shows the importance of uncovering the dynamics of the virus with particular attention to geographic variation.

19 Aug 2020

Study hints a mechanistic link between sex and stress response in microbes

Why is sex so popular? The question of why so many organisms reproduce sexually has mystified evolutionary biologists since before Darwin, who wrote that "The whole subject is as yet hidden in darkness."

21 May 2020

Family ties and traits key to survival in parasitic organisms

New research by Texas A&M University biologist Dr. Charles Criscione and collaborators in Canada shows that family ties and traits such as manipulation, sacrifice and selflessness are just as key to survival in parasitic organisms as they are in cognitive species like humans.

10 Mar 2020

Researcher explores biological processes that cause fertility problems in humans

With significant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a researcher at The University of Texas at Arlington is investigating fundamental biological processes that lead to fertility problems in humans.

16 Oct 2019

Study looks into evolution of sex and transmissible cancer

One of the greatest enigmas of evolutionary biology is that while sex is the dominant mode of reproduction among multicellular organisms, asexual reproduction appears much more efficient and less costly.

From PLOS ONE 10 Jun 2019

Bacteria share genes with one another, even across tissue boundaries

Bacteria in the human body are sharing genes with one another at a higher rate than is typically seen in nature, and some of those genes appear to be traveling - independent of their microbial hosts - from one part of the body to another, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports.

11 Apr 2019

Staten Island severely infested with self-cloning Asian longhorned ticks

Staten Island residents have another reason to apply insect repellent and obsessively check for ticks this spring and summer: the population of a new, potentially dangerous invasive pest known as the Asian longhorned tick has grown dramatically across the borough, according to Columbia University researchers.

29 Mar 2019

UTA doctoral student receives prestigious grant to fund research in genetic variation

A doctoral student in biology at The University of Texas at Arlington has received a prestigious grant to fund her research in genetic variation in whiptail lizards.

7 Sep 2018

Study focuses on sexual habits of fungus that causes athlete's foot

The sexual habits of Trichophyton rubrum, the fungus that causes athlete's foot and other kinds of skin and nail infections, were the focus of a study published by Brazilian scientists and international collaborators in the journal Genetics.

29 Jun 2018

Study establishes the importance of haploid cells

A new study has found that when the cell replication process exceeds or has less than a pair of chromosome set (a genome), destabilization occurs.

25 May 2018

Schistosomiasis: the biggest killer you’ve never heard of?

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease, sometimes called bilharzia or snail fever. The disease impacts a huge number of people around the world, over 230 million people are infected with one of the schistosome species, the parasitic worms that causes the disease.

4 Jul 2017

Fungal infections that sicken HIV/AIDS patients grow on trees

Researchers have pinpointed the environmental source of fungal infections that have been sickening HIV/AIDS patients in Southern California for decades. It literally grows on trees.

22 Aug 2014

DFTD study explains how human selection alters evolution of cancerous cells

Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) has ravaged the world's largest carnivorous marsupial since it emerged in 1996, resulting in a population decline of over 90%.

19 Feb 2014

Research provides important new information about transmission of human leishmaniasis

Research involving scientists at the University of York has provided important new information about transmission of human leishmaniasis, a group of infectious diseases which kills more than 100,000 people a year.

18 Jan 2014

C. parvum and cryptosporidiosis: an interview with Dr. Momar Ndao, McGill University

Cryptosporidium parvum is one of the most common enteropathogens to affect humans in the world. The protozoan parasite causes a gut infection referred to as cryptosporidiosis.

8 Jan 2014

Characterizing stem cells in larval schistosomes may help control prolific human parasite

Ancient Egyptian mummies revealed that humans have been hosting parasitic flatworms called schistosomes for more than 5,000 years. Today these parasites continue to plague millions of people across the world, causing roughly 250,000 deaths each year.

13 Aug 2013

Study identifies malaria parasite protein as potential new target for drug treatment to prevent malaria

Scientists have discovered how a protein within the malaria parasite is essential to its survival as it develops inside a mosquito. They believe their findings identify this protein as a potential new target for drug treatments to prevent malaria being passed to humans.

24 Apr 2013