The BBC TV channel reports on the amazing discovery of Brazilian and American scientists. The unique ants that live in the Amazon basin, in the process of evolution, abandoned the traditional breeding method, when a male and a female are involved. The unusual individual reproduces by cloning, so there are only females in the genus Mycocepurus smithii and not a single male
Scientists say that Mycocepurus smithii is the rarest species of the terrestrial fauna that resorts to same-sex reproduction. Formally, ants simply clone themselves, so the older generation reproduces an exact genetic copy of themselves - the same sex, the same size, the same set of genes, the same habits and needs.
New ants that "live without sex" are described in the latest issue of the scientific publication Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
According to Anna Himmler, a biologist at the University of Arizona, when researchers discovered a new species of ants, they analyzed their DNA. But what was the surprise of scientists when they saw 100% identical copies of the gene sets of this species. “They were all full clones of their queen,” says Himmler.
Biologists note that a more detailed study of Mycocepurus smithii revealed that in the past, females of Mycocepurus smithii had the rudiments of reproductive functions and the reproductive system, but for some unknown reason this species abandoned this path in the process of evolution.
In their article, the researchers write that asexual reproduction of males from unfertilized eggs is a normal part of the reproductive process in some species of insects, but completely asexual reproduction with the reproduction of only one species - females, is a unique phenomenon.
“It is quite obvious that these individuals evolved under some special conditions. It is not yet possible to say why these ants have become completely asexual,”says Anna Himmler. Scientists intend to answer the question by conducting a number of additional studies at the gene level.
However, there are benefits to asexual reproduction, experts say. The first and foremost advantage is that there is no need to create another insect floor and the associated costs. The second advantage is that almost 100% of the representatives of the species are potential sources of the continuation of the species, while under normal conditions (for example, in humans) - only 50%.
However, this method has disadvantages. The first and main drawback is that new individuals do not inherit the gene modifications of previous generations, which, in theory, should make subsequent generations stronger and more resilient. “The more varied the species, the more resistant and strong it is. In a colony of completely identical species, when one individual is infected with a disease, all the others are automatically infected with it, since there is no gene immunity,”the scientists say.
According to preliminary estimates of researchers, the age of Mycocepurus smithii is about 80 million years.
Anna Himmler says that in addition to the unique breeding method, Mycocepurus smithii have another phenomenal ability - they are literally capable of farming. Mycocepurus smithii feed on mushrooms and so that they have as much food as possible, ants actively cultivate the soil near the mushrooms, and also deliver dead insects, leaves, dried roots and everything else there that can serve as organic and mineral fertilizer.
