A Million Years Without Sex!

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Stick insects have lived for one million years without sex, genetic research has revealed. Scientists in Canada investigated the DNA of Timema stick insects, which live in shrubland around the west coast of the US. They traced the ancient lineages of two species to reveal the insects' lengthy history of asexual reproduction. The discovery could help researchers understand how life without sex is possible. Scientists from Simon Fraser University, Canada, published their results in the journal Current Biology. Certain species of Timema stick insects were known to reproduce asexually, with females producing young in "virgin births" without the need for egg fertilisation by males. The insects instead produce genetic clones of themselves. Dr Tanja Schwander and her team set out to test how old these species were, and therefore to find out how long they had reproduced in this way. By analysing the DNA of the insects, scientists were able to trace back their lineages to identify when they became a distinct species. The team discovered that five of the asexual stick insects were "ancient", dating back more than 500,000 years. Two of them were even older.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14122050

Personally, I would have wanked myself to death within a year!

[Mysturji]

I know exactly how they feel.

[Hermit]

"Stick insects have lived for one million years without sex." Does that mean I could live for a million years if I forgo sex? A dilemma if ever I saw one.

[JimC]

"Stick insects have lived for one million years without sex." Does that mean I could live for a million years if I forgo sex? A dilemma if ever I saw one.

I think there is a logical phallusy fallacy here somewhere...

In a more serious response, the degree of genetic variance in the population, plus the relative degree of parasitic threat, would be critical parameters in assessing why the lineages in question have survived for so long without the genetic shuffling provided by a bit of 'ows your father...

[Pappa]

[Svartalf]

Single cell organisms have proved beyond contest that life without sex is possible.

Next question is whether such life is desirable.

[apophenia]

"You can live to be 100 if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be 100."

Woody Allen

[JimC]

Single cell organisms have proved beyond contest that life without sex is possible.

Next question is whether such life is desirable.

Except that most of them swap DNA (or RNA) fragments with gusto and abandon, in search of better tricks...

What they have avoided is separate genders....

[FBM]

Single cell organisms have proved beyond contest that life without sex is possible.

Next question is whether such life is desirable.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 152545.htm

Ancient giant Posidonia oceanica reproduces asexually, generating clones of itself. A single organism -- which has been found to span up to 15 kilometres in width and reach more than 6,000 metric tonnes in mass -- may well be more than 100,000 years old.