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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 4539

Bernd Weisshaar, Rainer Gilles, Regina Moka, and Lothar Jaenicke; A High Frequency Mutation Starts Sexual Reproduction in Volvox carteri. Z.Naturforsch. 39c:1159-1162, 1984

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Pheromone-initiated sexual reproduction of Volvox carteri f. nagariensis is started by a "spontaneous" generation of sexual male spheroids at a rate of 10E-4. As previously suggested, these males are mutants (sex(c)) which become independent of pheromone-controlled sex-induction. Unequivocal evidence for a mutative event now comes from the observation that the sex(c) trait is transmitted through cell lineages during embryogenesis, thus confirming earlier morphological analysis. Mutation seems to be restricted to cell division. The high frequency of mutation points to a special enhancing mechanism for which the possibility of a genome rearrangement is discussed.