About this Research Topic
Asexual reproduction has both positive and negative impacts on the evolutionary success of a species. Asexually reproducing organisms spend fewer resources for the same reproductive output, meaning their populations grow and expand faster than sexually reproducing ones. On the other hand, asexual populations have reduced genetic diversity and, hence, lower adaptability to changing environments. An optimal life strategy includes alteration of generations, observed in many protists, invertebrates, and plants. However, some taxa (e.g. rotifers) completely lost the ability to reproduce sexually, whilst others (e.g. vertebrates) lost the ability to regularly switch to asexual reproduction; both seem to decrease the adaptive potential of the representatives of these groups. In spite of a myriad of publications, including genomic studies of sexually and asexually reproducing organisms, it remains unclear why the ability to alternate reproductive modes differs so greatly between major taxonomic groups, as do the reasons for complete loss of the ability of asexual reproduction in some evolutionary lineages such as mammals.
Many recent studies have attempted to analyze the potential advantages and shortcomings of parthenogenetic reproduction and to identify its genetic background. It is likely that both sexual and asexual reproduction appeared very early in the evolutionary history of living organisms, judging from its presence in most of the major groups of animals, plants, fungi, and protists. However, individual species and higher taxa strongly differ in their ability to alternate reproductive modes – there are those in which sex has never been recorded, those where sex occurs occasionally, those who are able to alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction, and those where the ability to asexually reproduce is completely lost. Organisms that belong to each of these groups have been seen to survive for millions of years, although the ability to switch among reproductive modes appears to be the best adaptive strategy irrespective of a taxonomic group. The goal of this Research Topic is to collate the latest research and insights on the potential to switch reproductive modes in different taxonomic groups, the genetic basis of the parthenogenetic reproductive mode and its variability among different organisms, and the evolutionary history of parthenogenesis. The purpose of doing so is to better understand the reasons for the disappearance of the ability to reproduce asexually from a selective, genomic, and epigenetic perspective, and to evaluate the probability of controlling reproductive mode in living organisms.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts on themes including but not limited to:
• Genetic mechanisms controlling asexual reproduction: taxon-specific vs general
• Obligatory parthenogenetic lineages from an evolutionary perspective
• Occasional turn from parthenogenesis to sexual reproduction in obligatory parthenogenetic lineages
• Facultative parthenogenesis vs selection
• Hybrid parthenogens: advantages and disadvantages for higher-order taxa
• Novel information on parthenogenesis in taxa where it was known so far
• Novel information on the alternation of generations in taxa where it was known so far
• Selection vs evolutionary constraints in the determining reproductive mode and its variation limits
• Parthenogenesis and biotechnology
Many recent studies have attempted to analyze the potential advantages and shortcomings of parthenogenetic reproduction and to identify its genetic background. It is likely that both sexual and asexual reproduction appeared very early in the evolutionary history of living organisms, judging from its presence in most of the major groups of animals, plants, fungi, and protists. However, individual species and higher taxa strongly differ in their ability to alternate reproductive modes – there are those in which sex has never been recorded, those where sex occurs occasionally, those who are able to alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction, and those where the ability to asexually reproduce is completely lost. Organisms that belong to each of these groups have been seen to survive for millions of years, although the ability to switch among reproductive modes appears to be the best adaptive strategy irrespective of a taxonomic group. The goal of this Research Topic is to collate the latest research and insights on the potential to switch reproductive modes in different taxonomic groups, the genetic basis of the parthenogenetic reproductive mode and its variability among different organisms, and the evolutionary history of parthenogenesis. The purpose of doing so is to better understand the reasons for the disappearance of the ability to reproduce asexually from a selective, genomic, and epigenetic perspective, and to evaluate the probability of controlling reproductive mode in living organisms.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts on themes including but not limited to:
• Genetic mechanisms controlling asexual reproduction: taxon-specific vs general
• Obligatory parthenogenetic lineages from an evolutionary perspective
• Occasional turn from parthenogenesis to sexual reproduction in obligatory parthenogenetic lineages
• Facultative parthenogenesis vs selection
• Hybrid parthenogens: advantages and disadvantages for higher-order taxa
• Novel information on parthenogenesis in taxa where it was known so far
• Novel information on the alternation of generations in taxa where it was known so far
• Selection vs evolutionary constraints in the determining reproductive mode and its variation limits
• Parthenogenesis and biotechnology
Keywords: Obligatory Parthenogenesis, Cyclical parthenogenesis, Facultative parthenogenesis, evolutionary constrains, Adaptive importance of sexual reproduction, Parthenogenesis in vertebrates, Apomixis, Automixis
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
