Cray crabs that create their own clones and grow explosively

byZfaulkes

Although only one female should have been in the aquarium, there are crayfish that lay a large amount of eggs and grow rapidly, and from the past research it turned out that "the child that was created is a mother's clone" It was. In addition, research on this crayfish gene for 5 years was conducted, and why "research crayfied crayfish were born?" Research results which are close to the secret of the birth have been announced.

Clonal genome evolution and rapid invasive spread of the marbled crayfish | Nature Ecology & amp; Evolution
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0467-9

This Mutant Crayfish Clones Itself, and It's Taking Over Europe - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/science/mutant-crayfish-clones-europe.html


Marmorkrebs(Mystery Crayfish)It was in the 1990's that crayfish called 'Crayfish' appeared in Germany's pet industry. Marmorkrebs are popular varieties among aquarium enthusiasts, and their body is very large and is known for the large number of eggs they produce.

Strange thing is that all reported Marmorkrebs are female. And these females produce hundreds of eggs without mating. Then, in 2003, researchers and others gave DNA of crayfishSequencingAs a result, it turned out that "the child Marmorkrebs produces is a mother's clone". The speed with which mothers produce clones is very fast, and one crayfish grows to hundreds in one year, so the number of Marmorkrebs has exploded in Europe. Since the owner who has become too much increased and too much has been released to the lake and river, the species which did not even exist 25 years ago, as of 2018, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Japan, Croatia, Madagascar etc. It has become a situation spreading to inside. If Marmorkrebs grows in one area too much, it will walk hundreds of meters to find new lakes and rivers.

A research team by Frank Rico et al., A biologist at the German cancer research center, etc., conducted DNA sequencing of Marmorkrebs for five years. The result is on February 5, 2018Nature Ecology & amp; EvolutionIt is announced in.

According to the research team, Marmorkrebs was born as a result of a mutation in the Sassila river flowing in the state of Florida and Georgia in America. Thirty years ago two false crabs mated, but one of the two sex had a mutation and had two sets of chromosomes. As a result, the baby had a triploid chromosome, and it became a body that can be multiplied by asexual reproduction even without males.

byMarbled Crayfish

There is an advantage for asexual reproduction, but there are drawbacks as well. Although it is advantageous that one species can leave hundreds of descendants, the explosive increase in number is advantageous, but because there is no diversity in the genes, if one clone has a disease of death, other individuals will also disappear There is a possibility. However, it is unclear how long it will take for such pathogens to appear, Mr. Rico says, "They may be alive even after 100,000 years. For us it's a long feeling of 100,000 years Although it is possible, it is only a moment in evolution. "