FLICKR, IMAGE EDITORFemale Drosophila that are infected with bacteria are somehow able to boost the genetic diversity of their offspring, according to a study published last week (August 13) in Science.
Most organisms on the planet must have sex to reproduce. Although this means only passing along half of one’s genome to each offspring, sex also carries significant benefits, such as diversifying the genetic makeup of one’s descendants. This can give offspring a critical leg up when faced with a harsh or changing environment—or disease. Arabidopsis plants, for example, have been found to increase the frequency of DNA recombination when infected with a virus. But it was not known whether the same occurred in animals.
Nadia Singh of North Carolina State University in Raleigh and her colleagues decided to test this idea in D. melanogaster, infecting female flies with different bacteria before they mated. Sure enough, the offspring of infected animals were more likely to have ...
