Among the semi-cloned animals that are thought to be short-lived as a lineage due to their lack of genetic diversity and the inability to eliminate malignant mutations, there are species with genomic maintenance strategies that overcome their shortcomings. Hiroyuki Munehara, associate professor of the Northern Biosphere Field Science Center, Hokkaido University, found out.It is a hybrid of the genus Hexagrammos that lives off the coast of Hokkaido, and overcame its genetic weakness by changing its spouse to a different species.
According to Hokkaido University, the half-clone of the genus Hexagrammos has two species, the mother is Hexagrammos aeruginosa and the father is Hexagrammos aeruginosa and Fat greenling.Fat greenling, fat greenling, and Hexagrammos aeruginosa all belong to the genus Hexagrammos, and two hybrids and fat greenling live in the same sea area off the coast of Hokkaido.Associate Professor Munehara et al. Collected this and analyzed the gene.
As a result, it was found that the fat greenling hybrid appeared when the whale hybrid changed the hybrid, and was not born by the cross between the parent species.The spouse changed thousands to tens of thousands of years ago, and all existing fat greenling hybrids are descendants of that time.
It was also revealed that when a half-clone changes its mate, it can refresh the malignant mutations that had previously accumulated in the genome.It can then be crossed with another spouse to revert to the original half-clone.
Hexagrammos hybrids are one of only six known semi-clone animals in the world and are the only saltwater fish.A semi-clone is an inheritance pattern in which a gene derived from a father is discarded and only a gene derived from a mother is transmitted to a child, unlike normal inheritance of a gene from parents.It is found in frogs and insects as well as fish.
Semi-clone animals have a high proliferation rate and can rapidly increase in number.However, its weakness is its lack of genetic diversity.It has been thought that malignant mutations gradually accumulate and cannot survive as a species for a long time.
