Immaculate Conception In a Boa Constrictor

crudmonkey writes "Researchers have discovered a biological shocker: female boa constrictors are capable of giving birth asexually. But the surprise doesn't end there. The study in Biology Letters found that boa babies produced through this asexual reproduction — also known as parthenogenesis — sport a chromosomal oddity that researchers thought was impossible in reptiles. While researchers admit that the female in the study may have been a genetic freak, they say the findings should press researchers to re-think reptile reproduction. Virgin birth among reptiles, especially primitive ones like boas, they argue may be far commoner than ever expected."

Comments

guys doomed

[Anonymous Coward]

If women get their hands on the secret behind this, it could be the end for men

Incorrect title

[Anonymous Coward]

Immaculate conception != virgin birth.

Immaculate Conception doesn't mean virgin birth

[BadAnalogyGuy]

A lot of people make the mistake of equating "Immaculate Conception" to the virgin birth of Jesus. Actually, it refers to the birth of Mary (mother of Jesus) being born without Original Sin. What the author is referring to is the Annunciation, which is the virgin conception of Jesus within Mary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception

Re:Immaculate Conception doesn't mean virgin birth

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

A lot of people making that mistake includes the vast majority of Roman Catholics.

Immaculate Conception?

[Imnimo]

This is not what Immaculate Conception means. The Immaculate Conception is the conception of Mary, not of Jesus, with the idea being that Mary is conceived without original sin so as to make her a proper vessel for Jesus. Then again, since snakes don't have original sin, maybe every snake conception is immaculate.

And the chromosomal oddity is...

[Samantha Wright]

Two WW chromosomes. In mammals, we have X and Y chromosomes to determine sex—but in reptiles, fish, and of course birds, the norm for a female is ZW, and the norm for a male is ZZ. This brought to you by Tilde R: Helping Those Who Hate RTFA.

Theological pedantry

[lochutus]

okay, so I don't really want to be a pedant, buuuut... Immaculate conception is birth without sin, that is without the blemish of original sin. What you're talking about here is virgin birth. common misconception (no pun intended). Nothing to see here, please carry on

Not immaculate conception

[dogmatixpsych]

It's not immaculate conception, it's a virgin birth. They are different. Immaculate conception means born without original sin (as in Mary was born without original sin and thus Christ was too). If you want more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception

I know this is a common misunderstanding but it is incorrect. I'm not Catholic, I've just been corrected about it in the past and thought I'd pass on the knowledge.

Chromosomal Oddity

[cappp]

The summary skips out on the interesting detail there

The mother in question gave birth to not one, but two snake litters of all-female snakes with WW-chromosomes. Male snake cells have two Z chromosomes, while female snakes have a Z and a W. This is the first time a reptile has been seen with two W chromosomes, something thought peculiar to fish and amphibians. The snakes' litters also retained the mother's rare genetic coloring

Also direct links to the study are here and here(pdf). The paper is "Evidence for viable, non-clonal but fatherless Boa constrictors" by Warren Booth, Daniel H. Johnson, Sharon Moore, Coby Schal, and Edward L. Vargo.

More info

[Strange Ranger]

  A more thorough article (with better grammar) is available at BBC News.

Re:Immaculate Conception?

[bluefoxlucid]

The idea that sex == sin is ridiculous since God basically told people to go out and have loads of sex. Directly.

Re:Immaculate Conception?

[Anonymous Coward]

Inducing man to have original sin does not give snakes original sin.