Making new species without sex
Occasionally, two different plant species interbreed with each other in nature. This usually causes problems since the genetic information of both parents does not match. But sometimes nature uses a trick. Instead of passing on only half of each parent's genetic material, both plants transmit the complete information to the next generation. This means that the chromosome sets are totted up. The chromosomes are then able to find their suitable partner during meiosis, a type of cell division that produces an organism's reproductive cells. This allows the plants to stay fertile and a new species is generated. Examples for such a combination of two genomes, called allopolyploidy, are found abundantly in both wild plants and crops like wheat, rapeseed and cotton. Now, for the first time, Ralph Bock's group at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology could show that new species can be generated in an asexual manner...