Meeting Abstract

P1.120  Thursday, Jan. 3  Microsatellite Analysis of Parthenogenetic Aspidoscelis Species LUTES, Aracely A*; BAUMANN, Diana P; BAUMANN, Peter; Stowers Institute for Medical Research; Kansas City, MO; U.S.A. aan@stowers-institute.org

Parthenogenesis is a process in which viable offspring are produced without fertilization. Although small asexual organisms have thrived for millions of years, parthenogenesis is widely regarded as an evolutionary dead-end due to the lack of genetic diversity present within lineages. However, there are cases of parthenogenotes that are thriving, including many species of fish, amphibians, and reptiles such as the asexually-reproducing whiptail lizards of the genus Aspidoscelis. The variability among parthenogenetic individuals within this genus has not yet been analyzed on a molecular scale. We have established a set of microsatellite markers which demonstrate that genetic variability exists among parthenogenetic individuals. Contributions of spontaneous mutation and multiple hybridization events will be discussed. Furthermore, we show that genetic variability can also occur via back-crossing of the parthenogenote with males of closely related sexual species.