Is there evidence of sexual reproduction (meiosis) in Acanthamoeba?

Naveed Ahmed Khan*, Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Evolution of independently breeding species into males and females (gametes) has remained a puzzle. Given the significant advantages of sexual reproduction over asexual reproduction as a long-term species survival strategy; here, we pose the question whether there is some form of meiosis in Acanthamoeba species, which represents our ancient lineage. The recently available Acanthamoeba genome revealed several genes implicated in meiosis in sexual eukaryotes such as Spo11, Mre11, Rad50, Rad51, Rad52, Mnd1, Dmc1, Msh, and Mlh, suggesting that Acanthamoeba is capable of some form of meiosis, inferring the presence of sexual reproduction in Acanthamoeba, and that meiosis evolved early in eukaryotic evolution.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)193-195
Number of pages3
JournalPathogens and Global Health
Volume109
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2015

Keywords

  • Sexual reproduction
  • Acanthamoeba
  • Gender

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