Imagine if, after years of fruitlessly searching for "the one," you could just pop out a baby without the need for a partner (or a sperm bank.)
As far as we know, humans are incapable of producing such "virgin births." However, many animals can and do produce offspring in this way. Now, for the first time, researchers have pinpointed the genes required for this solo spawning and have successfully induced them in a species that normally participates in partnered procreation—fruit flies.
"Parthenogenesis [i.e., virgin births] in animals is a fundamental biological phenomenon for which there is very little known," Alexis Sperling, a researcher at the University of Cambridge who led the recent study, told Newsweek.
"A virgin birth might be beneficial when an animal becomes isolated and unable to find a mate. It could be a 'one-off' generation to buy time," she said.
Some strains of fruit flies are able to reproduce without male assistance, but others require a mate to procreate. By analyzing the DNA of these different strains, Sperling and her team were able to identify the specific genes that were switched on in mateless mothers, which allowed them to reproduce in this way.
Next, they identified the corresponding genes in a closely related fruit fly, a sexually reproducing "model" organism called Drosophila melanogaster, and switched them on to match the gene expression of the virgin moms.
Using this genetic switchboard, the team was able to convert the sexually reproducing flies into single moms capable of reproducing all by themselves.
"We're the first to show that you can engineer virgin births to happen in an animal," Sperling said. "In our genetically manipulated flies, the females waited to find a male for half their lives—about 40 days—but then gave up and proceeded to have a virgin birth."
What's more, these virgin mothers appeared to be able to pass on this new ability to their daughters.
"It was very exciting to see a virgin fly produce an embryo able to develop to adulthood and then repeat the process," Sperling said.
The results of this study were published Friday in the journal Current Biology.
As well as improving our understanding of this reproductive process, Sperling, who now works at Cambridge's Crop Science Center, hopes to use this knowledge to investigate how some insect pests that feed on crops have co-opted this strategy to reproduce more rapidly.
"It could become a real problem for agriculture because...their ability to spread doubles," she said. "Anything that could give insight into how this process occurs could point researchers towards investigating how crop pests are becoming parthenogenetic or how parthenogenetic animals are capitalizing on crops and thus find a way to prevent it."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
