Researchers find honey bee gene that causes virgin birth [View all]
MAY 7, 2020 / 6:08 PM
By Brooks Hays
May 7 (UPI) -- The Cape honey bee, a subspecies found along the southern coast of South Africa, reproduces without having sex. Now, scientists have identified the gene responsible for the bee's virgin births.
Scientists found the gene, named GB45239, on the bee's eleventh chromosome. The discovery, detailed this week in the journal Current Biology, ends a 30-year search for the virgin birth gene.
Analysis of the novel gene could help scientists gain new insights into the evolution of different reproductive strategies.
"Sex is a weird way to reproduce and yet it is the most common form of reproduction for animals and plants on the planet," study co-author Benjamin Oldroyd, professor of behavioral genetics at the University of Sydney in Australia, said in a news release. "It's a major biological mystery why there is so much sex going on and it doesn't make evolutionary sense. Asexuality is a much more efficient way to reproduce, and every now and then we see a species revert to it."
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https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2020/05/07/Researchers-find-honey-bee-gene-that-causes-virgin-birth/6761588880291/?sl=1&ur3=1
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