Haploid all the way: a new style of asexuality revealed in animals.
Weeks et al(1) recently reported that they had found a species of mites where the parthenogenetic females are haploid. They show that this is caused by intracellular bacteria that turn genetic haploid males into haploid females. I discuss these findings and attempt to place these observations in evolutionary context.
Perrot
Véronique
V
Department of Biology, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D006238:Haploidy; D008297:Male; D008925:Mites / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012100:Reproduction, Asexual / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D014566:Urogenital System / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology