- Prabowo set to lead bolder Indonesia on world stage
- Tampa zoo rushes Chompers the porcupine and others to safety as Milton nears
- Shanghai stocks pare early surge on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- New Japan PM to hold talks on ASEAN sidelines
- Record number of climbers chase 14-peak dream in Tibet
- Former South Korea clinic for US 'comfort women' to be demolished
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- Chiefs battle past Saints to stay unbeaten
- Deal on climate aid hangs in balance at UN COP29 summit
- Royals hit back against Yankees, Tigers maul Guardians
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- Drugs, people smuggling at heart of Mexico's raging violence
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Musk says he is 'all in' on Trump in US election
- Category 5 Hurricane Milton roars towards storm-battered Florida
- Carpenter bomb stuns Guardians as Tigers level series
- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.15% | 6.87 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 60.52 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ |
Scientists engineer fruit flies capable of 'virgin birth'
Scientists said on Friday they have genetically engineered female fruit flies that can have offspring without needing a male, marking the first time "virgin birth" has been induced in an animal.
The offspring of the flies were also able to give birth without mating, showing that the trait could be passed down generations, in another first revealed in a study in the journal Current Biology.
Virgin birth, also called parthenogenesis, is rare but not unheard of in the animal kingdom.
The females of some egg-laying animals -- such as lizards and birds -- are capable of giving birth without mating, usually later in life when no males are available.
"For the first time, scientists have managed to induce virgin birth in an animal that usually reproduces sexually: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster," Cambridge University said.
Scientists revealed last month that a female crocodile in a Costa Rican zoo who had never been near a male laid an egg containing a fully formed foetus, the first recorded virgin birth for the reptile.
Sexual reproduction usually involves a female's egg being fertilised by sperm from a male. But for parthenogenesis, the female develops the egg into an embryo all on her own.
Alexis Sperling, a researcher at the UK's Cambridge University and lead author of the new study, told AFP that she had wanted to study virgin births ever since her pet praying mantis had one.
Seeking to find a genetic cause for the phenomenon, Sperling and several US-based researchers decided to experiment on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
The fly, which sexually reproduces normally, is one of the most studied animals for genetic research, meaning they could take advantage of more than a century's worth of knowledge.
- 'Exciting' -
First the team sequenced the genomes of two strains of another fruit fly, Drosophila mercatorum. One strain reproduces solely via virgin birth, while the other needs a male.
The researchers then compared the results, aiming to pinpoint the genes behind virgin births.
They then manipulated the genes of the Drosophila melanogaster to match what they saw in its close relative.
The result was "fully parthenogenetic flies, which was much to my delight", Sperling said.
The research, which took six years, involved more than 220,000 fruit flies.
If the genetically engineered flies had access to males, they would reproduce as normal.
But among those kept in isolation, one to two percent seemingly gave up on ever seeing a male around halfway through their life -- around 40 days -- and had a virgin birth.
Their offspring -- which were all female, as is the case with all virgin births -- had young of their own at around the same rate.
Sperling said that the feat would have been almost impossible to achieve in any other animal because of the wealth of data about fruit flies -- and because of how difficult parthenogenesis is to study.
Mammals -- including humans -- are not capable of having virgin births anyway because their reproduction requires certain genes from sperm.
But Sperling said that more animals are probably capable of virgin births than is currently known, pointing to the recent crocodile discovery.
And while virgin births are thought to be "a last-ditch effort" to keep a species going, that theory has not been proven, she said.
Herman Wijnen, a researcher at the UK's University of Southampton not involved in the study, said it was "exciting because it demonstrates how parthenogenesis can evolve in a sexually reproducing species as a back-up strategy for females that are unable to find a partner."
"The genes that were manipulated in the fruit fly are ones that are shared with humans, but there are substantial differences between early development in flies and humans."
J.Oliveira--AMWN