Bdelloids Surviving on Borrowed DNA

Bdelloid rotifers are microscopic invertebrates found in ponds, creeks, mosses, and especially in puddles and sewage-treatment tanks that have diverged into 400 species without sex. Bdelloids reproduce through parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development of embryos occur without fertilization. A new genetic analysis shows that 10% of the bdelloid's active genes were stolen from other species such as fungi, bacteria, and plants. When scientists sequenced their DNA, they found it was made up of pieces from more than  500 different species. All of bdelliods found in the past million years have been shes. They are able to reproduce without the prescence of males and have the ability to survive the sudden disappearance of their aquatic homes; the desiccation-survival record is 9 years. As it is believed that sexual reproduction brings in genetic variation, moelcular biologist Alan Tunnacliffe says that it's not clear how the bdelloids come by the foreign DNA, but it may supply them with enough fresh genetic material to overcome the disadvantages of asexuality.