Barley Anthony J, Cole Charles J
School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University-West Valley, Glendale, Arizona 85306, United States.
Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, United States.
Bioscience. 2025 Feb 14;75(4):331-341. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biaf010. eCollection 2025 Apr.
Thirteen species of North American lizards are remarkable because only females exist, which reproduce by cloning unfertilized eggs. Their closest relatives reproduce sexually, with eggs fertilized by sperm from males, as in most vertebrates. The unisexual species originated through hybridization, dispensing with sex and males in a single generation. These lizards hold tremendous potential in science education as a fascinating model for learning about fundamental biological concepts, and in research for developing knowledge with medical applications for reproductive biology, embryonic development, and genetic interactions. These lizards maintain genome integrity in a hybrid state in which recombination is absent, but do not suffer from conditions or disorders such as Down's Syndrome or cancer that are caused by aneuploidy in humans. The multifarious impacts of hybridization on the diversity of species in this group present an exceptional opportunity to deepen understanding of the complicated process of evolutionary diversification.
北美有13种蜥蜴很引人注目，因为它们全都是雌性，通过克隆未受精的卵来繁殖。它们的近亲像大多数脊椎动物一样进行有性繁殖，雄性的精子使卵受精。这些单性物种起源于杂交，在一代之内就摆脱了性别和雄性。作为学习基本生物学概念的一个引人入胜的模型，这些蜥蜴在科学教育中具有巨大潜力，并且在生殖生物学、胚胎发育和基因相互作用的医学应用知识开发研究中也有潜力。这些蜥蜴在没有重组的杂交状态下保持基因组完整性，但不会患上由人类非整倍体引起的诸如唐氏综合征或癌症等病症或疾病。杂交对该类群物种多样性的多种影响为加深理解进化多样化的复杂过程提供了一个绝佳机会。
