Me. Viney et al., MATING IN THE NEMATODE PARASITE STRONGYLOIDES-RATTI - PROOF OF GENETIC EXCHANGE, Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological Sciences, 254(1341), 1993, pp. 213-219
Strongyloides, a parasitic nematode, has a complex life cycle that rep
resents a transition between free-living and purely parasitic ways of
life. By using minisatellite DNA fingerprinting, we have detected a la
rge number of polymorphic loci in cloned lines of S. ratti. In control
led crosses between free-living adults of S. ratti, we show that genet
ic exchange, consistent with normal sexual reproduction, occurs. This
is in contrast to earlier cytological studies which claimed that repro
duction in this organism was by pseudogamy, and thus that inheritance
was maternal only.