Slashdot Mirror
Organism Survives 100 Million Years Without Sex
zyl0x writes "The Times has an interesting article online on the discovery of a 100-million-year-old micro-organism which has survived its entire lifespan without sex." From the article "A tiny creature that has not had sex for 100 million years has overturned the theory that animals need to mate to create variety. Analysis of the jaw shapes of bdelloid rotifers, combined with genetic data, revealed that the animals have diversified under pressure of natural selection. Researchers say that their study "refutes the idea that sex is necessary for diversification into evolutionary species".
Now you know how Slashdotters will look after a hundred million years!
On a serious note, no sex, no evolution -- doesn't look like this organism has changed all that much in hundred million years.
Support evolution: get laid now!
I would fathom that mutation might happen more often with sexual reproduction, and thus asexual reproduction could slow the pace of evolution, but again, that's not to say it doesn't happen. Because it very surely does, as we know from the mutation of all those single-celled asexual organisms we know about. Like every disease out there. It is absolutely nonsense to claim otherwise. Bacteria multiply asexually. Protists do too. This is why diseases resist new drugs. Countless species of plants reproduce asexually. Myriad species of all these kingdoms have survived for 100 million years.
The headline might as well be, 'there has been life on Earth a long time.'
It's Slashdot, you know? I don't understand why is this news. I mean we learned about asexual reproduction in school, for christ's sake.
That said sexual reproduction (means: not male/female necessarily but combining genes from two or more specimens) allows for "good" mutations to combine in a single organism (if that organism is lucky enough to get the right combo).
This makes sexual reproduction a lot more powerful. With simple assexual reproduction everyone is on its own, so to speak. Works for simple organisms, but complex are no go.