A Komodo virgin Mary?

[Mendel's Balls]

Great info! I'm curious, though, has there been any research to show what initiates the mechanism? Do all females possess this ability, or do you think it's a genetic trait that only select individuals possess? Also, is it believed to be a function of most reptiles, or only those species that may have needed it for their survival?

Good questions.
I'm don't think they know what initiates the facultative parthenogenesis in Komodo dragons.

From the Nature news article:

"Most zoos keep only female dragons, bringing in males occasionally for mating. Maybe this isn't enough to convince the females that a mate will be around one day, prompting her to opt for the male-free alternative."

"It makes you take a completely new look at the genetic management of your animals," Gibson says. The team suggests that zoos think about keeping male and female dragons together to avoid triggering parthenogenesis and decreasing genetic diversity."

A whole PhD Thesis could be done on this. And all kind of interesting hypotheses could be tested and explored from the organismal to the molecular level. Maybe males secrete a pheromone that inhibits the parthenogenetic pathway? Maybe there's a chemical in semen that activitely inhibits the parthenogenetic pathway?

Maybe in some species it is so rare and random of a phenomenon we just don't see it unless a female is keep in isolation away from the possibility sexual reproduction? I'd say that this possible explanation for dragons is
unlikely since they seen it in 2 out of 3 komodo in captivity in the UK and both were able then to sexually reproduce. Maybe it something about being in captivity that initiates it?


Also in Burmese....the exact cellular and genetic mechanism remain unknown. The Discussion section of the paper in Heredity discusses three possible mechanisms. 2 of which I really don't understand at this point.

The parthenogenesis seen in pythons does not present a zoo/population management issue. Genetic diversity is maintained by this unknown mechanism. There would be no unmasking of potentially harmful recessive mutations by this mechanism.


I think that many reptilian species have the capacity to do parthenogenesis. Some lizard species, in fact, only reproduce by parthenogenesis. I doubt it is controlled by just one gene. Whether some members of a given population can do it, rather than others---I Dont know.