A genetic analysis of reproduction in Strongyloides ratti | Parasitology | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Summary

Strongyloides ratti has a complex life-cycle with two adult generations, one free-living and dioecious and one parasitic and female only. The parasitic females reproduce by parthenogenesis, but it is unclear whether this is mitotic or meiotic in nature. This question has been addressed genetically by analysing the progeny of parasitic females that were heterozygous at an actin locus for evidence of allelic segregation. Such progeny were similarly heterozygous showing that segregation had not occurred. It was therefore concluded that reproduction in the parasitic female of S. ratti is functionally mitotic.

References

Albertson, D. A., Nwaorgu, O. C. & Sulston, J. E. (1979). Chromatin diminution and a chromosomal mechanism of sexual differentiation in Strongyloides papillosus. Chromosoma 75, 75–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bolla, R. I. & Roberts, L. S. (1968). Gametogenesis and chromosomal complement in Strongyloides ratti (Nematoda: Rhabdiasoidea). Journal of Parasitology 54, 849–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Hughes, R. N. (1989). A Functional Biology of Clonal Animals. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar

Krause, M., Wild, M., Rosenzweig, B. & Hirsh, D. (1989). Wild-type and mutant actin genes in Caenorhabditis elegans. Journal of Molecular Biology 208, 381–92.Google Scholar

Nigon, V. & Roman, E. (1952). Le déterminisme du sexe et le développement cyclique de Strongyloides ratti. Bulletin Biologique de la France et de la Belgique 86, 404–48.Google Scholar

Poinar, G. O. & Hansen, E. (1983). Sex and reproductive modifications in nematodes. Helminthological Abstracts – Series B 52, 145–63.Google Scholar

Tindall, N. R. & Wilson, P. A. G. (1988). Criteria for a proof of migration routes of immature parasites inside hosts exemplified by studies of Strongyloides ratti in the rat. Parasitology 96, 551–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Triantaphyllou, A. C. & Moncol, D. J. (1977). Cytology, reproduction and sex determination of Strongyloides ransomi and S. papillosus. Journal of Parasitology 63, 961–73.Google Scholar

Viney, M. E., Matthews, B. E. & Walliker, D. (1992). On the biological and biochemical nature of cloned lines of Strongyloides ratti. Journal of Helminthology 66, 45–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Viney, M. E., Matthews, B. E. & Walliker, D. (1993). Mating in the nematode parasite Strongyloides ratti: proof of genetic exchange. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 254, 213–19.Google Scholar

Zaffagnini, F. (1973). Parthenogenesis in the parasitic and free-living forms of Strongyloides papillosus (Nematoda, Rhabdiasoidea). Chromosoma 40, 443–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed