Although all individuals of this species are females and reproduce asexually, the genome has remained very robust for thousands of generations without the benefits of sexual reproduction.
While it needs the presence of males of closely related species to stimulate reproduction, those males provide no genetic material to the offspring.
It was previously thought that without genetic recombination (as happens in sexual reproduction), harmful mutations would accumulate in clonal lineages, eventually causing genomic decay and species extinction.
That the African molly nevertheless persists indicated that an undiscovered mechanism must protect the integrity of its genome.
This research was conducted by Dr Edward Ricemeyer and his team in Germany, at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen (LMU).
