RT Journal Article
T1 No Mate, No Problem: Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Parthenogenesis in the Cosmopolitan Earthworm <i>Aporrectodea trapezoides</i> (Annelida, Clitellata)
A1 De Sosa Carrasco, Irene
A1 Turon, Marta
A1 Taboada Moreno, Sergio
A1 Lorente Sorolla, José
A1 Fernández, Rosa
A1 Tilikj, Natasha
A1 Piris Martín, Alberto
A1 Novo Rodríguez, Marta
A1 Álvarez Campos, Patricia
A1 Riesgo, Ana
AB Approximately, 40% of earthworm species can reproduce by parthenogenesis. This is the case for the cosmopolitan species, Aporrectodea trapezoides, although sexual forms have been described sporadically. We analyse the genotypes and microbiomes of 30 individuals from four localities where both forms appear in order to understand the evolutionary mechanisms related to parthenogenesis. In all sites, heterozygosity values were approximately 30% higher in parthenogenetic individuals. However, we detected a stronger genomic structuring due to reproduction than to the geographical setting only in the Algerian population, underpinned by 195 loci that were related to gametogenesis, symbiont-like processes, and nitrate reduction. Similarly, statistical differences in the abundance of ZOTUs were only found between the Algerian sexual and parthenogenetic earthworms, with 754 ZOTUs that included the genus Romboutsia, which is involved in the production of nitric oxide, which enhances sperm motility. In summary, significant genomic and microbiome differences were found only between sexual and parthenogenetic lineages in a single locality. We hypothesise that obligate parthenogenesis evolved early, leaving traces at the genomic and microbiome levels in the Algerian parthenogens that were the earliest splitting lineage. Such obligate parthenogenesis was lost secondarily and individuals in the Iberian sites were facultative parthenogens, with the potential to copulate and therefore erase the genomic and microbial traces of obligate parthenogenesis. Our results indicate a hybrid origin of parthenogenesis in A. trapezoides and shed light on the complex interplay between genomic, microbiome, and reproductive mechanisms in A. trapezoides.
PB Wiley
SN 0962-1083
YR 2025
FD 2025-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/123605
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/123605
LA eng
NO de Sosa, I., Turon, M., Taboada, S., Lorente-Sorolla, J., Fernández, R., Tilikj, N., Piris, A., Novo, M., Álvarez Campos, P. and Riesgo, A. (2025), No Mate, No Problem: Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Parthenogenesis in the Cosmopolitan Earthworm Aporrectodea trapezoides (Annelida, Clitellata). Mol Ecol, 34: e70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70010
NO I.S. was funded by the European Union-Next GenerationEU program through a Margarita Salas fellowship. M.T. was supported by a JdC (Juan de la Cierva Formación, 2020) personal grant (FJC2020-043677-I), MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship (HORIZON-MSCA.2022-PF-01, Project 101105716). J.S. and A.P. were funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities through a predoctoral fellowship (JSPRE2020-095330 and PRE2022-103770, respectively). M.N. was supported by Grant PID2021-122243NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. P.Á.C. was funded by MNCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and European Union “Next GenerationEU/PRTR” (CNS2023-145193). S.T. received funding from the grant PID2020-117115GA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and from the grant CNS2023-144572 and by the Ramón y Cajal grant RYC2021-03152-I, funded by the MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union «NextGenerationEU»/PRTR». A.R. acknowledges funding from three grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-024247-I, PID2019-105769GB-I00, and CNS2023-144571) in the framework of MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/50110001103 and EI “FSE invierte en tu futuro” and an intramural grant from CSIC (PIE-202030E006). R.F. acknowledges support from the following sources of funding: the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 948281), the OSCARS project (funding from the European Commission's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101129751), grant CNS2023-144624 funded by MICIU/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033, and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR” and the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR 2021-SGR00420).
NO European Commission
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO Generalitat de Catalunya
NO Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 26 feb 2026