Producing Asexually Can Lead to Extinction?!

According to Mat Fisher from Imperial College London, organisms that reproduce asexually are at risk at becoming extinct. The researchers from Imperial College London have been studying the genetic structure of Penicillium marneffei, an asexual fungus only found in south-east Asia. They found that although this fungus spores were able to spread over large distances on currents of air, they were not able to take over the new environment in which they landed. The researchers believe that the fungus wasn't able to adapt to the new environments because it has largely dispense with sexual reproduction. Mat Fisher one of the researchers said that without sex you will not have the mixing of genes it causes, something that all organisms need in order to be able to adapt to new environment. Basically what they found is that because they do not have different genes and are technically clones of each other they are not able to adapt to different environments which will eventually lead to extinction.


This article relates to science because it talks about asexual reproduction. It discusses the possibility of organisms that reproduce asexually becoming extinct. This study has a lot to do with biology for it is life and it talks about how life can end for these organisms.

This article is significant because the study that it describes is important to science. The new findings and the ideas that Mat Fisher from Imperial College London discovered might help with other research in science dealing with asexual and sexual reproduction. People should also care about this because everything exist for a reason and we should care about these organisms. Also fungus can be useful, for example, it is used for some drugs.


http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20050928013131data_trunc_sys.shtml