Molecular genetic evidence for parthenogenesis in the Burmese python, Python molurus bivittatus
Molecular genetic evidence for parthenogenesis in the Burmese python, Python molurus bivittatus
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DOI：
10.1038/sj.hdy.6800210
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发表时间：
2003-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Breeuwer, JAJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Groot, TVM;Bruins, E;Breeuwer, JAJ
爬行动物中的孤雌生殖是罕见的。只有少数物种具有无性繁殖的能力。其中大多数是专性孤雌生殖物种，（几乎）完全由雌性组成，只能通过孤雌生殖进行繁殖。更罕见的是有性物种仅通过孤雌生殖零星地繁殖。阿姆斯特丹阿蒂斯动物园的一只雌性蟒蛇 molurus bivittatus（爬行动物，Boidae）在与雄性隔离的情况下连续五年产下含有胚胎的卵。这些卵子可能与储存的精子受精，也可能是单性生殖的产物。此前，Boidae 科的孤雌生殖尚未被证实。我们使用微卫星和 AFLP 对蛇及其七个胚胎进行了亲子关系分析。为该物种开发的四个微卫星基因座与之前为不同蛇种开发的三个基因座相结合，显示出的变异太小，无法区分精子保留和孤雌生殖。通过 AFLP，我们能够确认阿蒂斯动物园的雌性是孤雌生殖。由于后代在遗传上与母亲相同，而在之前对蛇零星孤雌生殖的研究中报道了遗传信息的丢失，因此我们得出结论，产生二倍体卵细胞的减数分裂途径是不同的。
Parthenogenesis among reptiles is rare. Only a few species have the ability to reproduce asexually. Most of these are obligate parthenogenetic species that consist (almost) entirely of females, which can reproduce solely through parthenogenesis. Rarer are sexual species that only sporadically reproduce through parthenogenesis. A female Python molurus bivittatus (Reptilia, Boidae) from the Artis Zoo, Amsterdam, produced eggs in five consecutive years that contained embryos while she was isolated from males. These eggs might be fertilized with stored sperm, or might be the product of parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis has not been shown for the Boidae family before. We performed parentship analyses on the snake and seven of her embryos using microsatellites and AFLP. Four microsatellite loci developed for this species combined with three loci developed previously for different snake species revealed too little variation to discriminate between sperm retention and parthenogenesis. With AFLP we were able to confirm that the Artis Zoo female reproduced parthenogenetically. Because the offspring are genetically identical to their mother, whereas in previous studies on sporadic parthenogenesis in snakes a loss of genetic information was reported, we conclude that the meiotic pathways that produce the diploid egg cells are different.