A little bit is better than nothing: The incomplete parthenogenesis of salamanders, frogs and fish

Abstract

A re-examination of the mitochondrial genomes of unisexual salamander lineages, published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, shows them to be the oldest unisexual vertebrates known, having been around for 5 million years. This presents a challenge to the prediction that lack of genetic recombination is a fast track to extinction.© 2010 Lampert and Schartl; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.