For the first time, researchers have demonstrated direct evidence of two polar populations of a microorganism -- one in the Arctic and the other in the Antarctic -- successfully mating and sharing the same gene pool, researchers linkurl:report this week;http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1019432108 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The unique species likely overcomes its geographic divide by traveling along deep ocean currents, the authors report.linkurl:Pierangelo Luporini;http://ricerca.unicam.it/Show/Departments.aspx?Action=Data&IdUniversity=4&IdDepartment=2&IdLanguage=2 and colleagues at the University of Camerino in Italy analyzed strains of Euplotes nobilii -- a protozoan ciliate aptly named from a Greek term meaning "good swimmer" or "good sailor" -- and observed 3 strains from the Arctic and 3 from the Antarctic that successfully mated through conjugation, the direct exchange of genes, and produced viable offspring. The strains also shared structurally similar pheromones -- signaling hormones vital for cell-to-cell recognition and mating -- identified by NMR spectroscopy in...
 |
Ronald Corner, linkurl:www.michigan.gov;http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3313_3683_3720-58397--,00.html |
The Scientist. Di Giuseppe, G. et al., "Antarctic and Arctic populations of the ciliate Euplotes nobilii show common pheromone-mediated cell-cell signaling and cross-mating," PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1019432108.
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!