Reptile & Amphibian Forums

http://www.newswise.com/articles/girl-power-no-male-no-problem-for-female-boa-constrictor

More to follow.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Great Article Dr Booth easy for a regular guy like me to understand. I had a feeling
the result was "WW" fems after all the long conversations
on the forums about this subject.

Now Jeff needs to get those shed skins to you from his Ghost litter.
We can find out if it is more of a common occurrence.

. . . Lar M

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Boas By Klevitz

I Support USark.org

This particular article was written by Mick Kulikoswki specifically for the layperson to be able to understand. I will post more links as I get them.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Thanks for all your hard work on that write up. I'm glad I have a girl from her first litter. Here she is when I opened up the box from good ol' Sharon.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/11/boa-constrictors-born-by-virgi.html

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

How about some pics of these great girls......I am so glad the news can now be shared !!

www.boastore.com

Cool! Thanks for sharing pics...and great lookers at that!

Very cool info'

Andy
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I love these girls. They just get better with each shed. Enjoy!
www.boastore.com

Hey Sharon would you be so kind as to share pictures with the
Boa community of this Beautiful BWC Mother of
the Parthenogenesis litter Plz ?

Thx Sharon

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

I Support USark.org

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/10/21/rsbl.2010.0793.full.pdf html

I believe The Royal Society are offering free access this month to all of their journal contents and archives.
Enjoy.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

http://news.discovery.com/animals/boa-constrictor-virgin-birth.html
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Thanks Andy
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So homomorphic sex chromosomes can give rise to viable WW. Now that's cool stuff. Very nice paper.

Hi,
That is one of the possible explanations. Now, if I determine the other litters as being parthenogenetically produced and WW then it suggests either hemizygosity of the sex chromosomes can be common, or that other factors are involved.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Hi Warren,
I have had at least 4-5 of these types of litters over the years and poss partho baby I kept died (usually during adulthood). I tried to breed a poss anery female a couple years ago and she never bred (and died the subsequent year, or later that same year). I am even sitting on a partho litter now--a couple were weak and died--and the rest are doing fine (at least for now). So needless to say, I am glad someone with resources, the experience/education, and facilities were able to study these frequent phenomena in "old" boids.

I have a couple questions about your paper. In Table 1 you list the various loci and micro-sat motifs, but what are the "sequences" you are listing? Are these variable regions within these loci? And, what are the "F" and "R"s? The rest of the table makes sense to me.

And to Table 2, are the numbers listed under each locus (e.g. 295/295) bp lengths and supposed to represent hetero- and/or homozygosity, by length?

And also, a question on this statement: "At this stage of development in the sexually produced males examined, both testes and ovaries were present...". Are you saying the similar aged males (to the lone female examined) had both sex organs? Maybe, I missed something or misinterpreted the sentence, or its connection elsewhere.

And lastly, you speculate the reason for WW females is the possibility the dam of the litter was hemizygous or was it some meiotic aberration during oogenesis (from the dam)?

I lied--here is another. There appears to be some variation in the offspring; can you speculate what is happening? There seems to be some kind of gene shuffling going on. I am not familiar with oogenesis in boids, or terminal fusion for that matter (w/second polar body). If meiosis is occurring, there should be some gene mixing, right?

Sorry, for all the questions. I am just trying to understand every aspect of this paper so I may explain it to my students.

Back to teaching...good work!

Here is a partho anery whom died two years ago as an adult:

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Ron Michelotti

Class Reptilia
www.classreptilia.com

So this also begs the Question . . . . . . is a "WW" Fem possibly a life shortening condition ?

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

I Support USark.org

I'm guessing the different bp lengths (or genotypes) in table 2 reflect the different number of microsatellites at each locus, thus homo- (same #'s) or heterozygous (different #'s).
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Ron Michelotti

Class Reptilia
www.classreptilia.com

Hi,
I am happy to answer your questions. First, I have a few of my own.

1) How do you know your litters were parthenogenetic without genetic testing?
2) What were teh circumstances surrounding each litter?
3) How many females produced these litters?
4) What were the ratios of offspring to slugs? Also were they all female litters. What were the litter sizes?
5) Are you willing to provide shed skins from each live animal, tissue from dead? babies, adult females, and any males those "parthenogenetic" litter producing female were with?

I have a few more but will wait for the answers.

Okay, to your questions:

Q1) In Table 1 you list the various loci and micro-sat motifs, but what are the "sequences" you are listing? Are these variable regions within these loci? And, what are the "F" and "R"s? The rest of the table makes sense to me.

A1) The sequences are the microsatellite primers. The F denotes the forward primer, the R, the reverse primer. Each of these pairs amplify a specific region containing an informative (i.e. variable) microsatellite locus.

Q2) And to Table 2, are the numbers listed under each locus (e.g. 295/295) bp lengths and supposed to represent hetero- and/or homozygosity, by length?

A2) Yes, these are the length of the product that each primer pair listed in Table one amplify. If they are the same number, the individual is homozygous at that locus, different means they are heterozygous.

Q3) And also, a question on this statement: "At this stage of development in the sexually produced males examined, both testes and ovaries were present...". Are you saying the similar aged males (to the lone female examined) had both sex organs? Maybe, I missed something or misinterpreted the sentence, or its connection elsewhere.

A3)Yes, this was shocking to us. We used two males and two females from a litter that was the same age to the parthenogen for comparison. The reason being is that many parthenogens have deformed reproductive organs, therefore the deformed hemepenes probe to the depth expected for a female. We needed to confirm that the probed depths were accurately describing the sex. SO, the female sexually produced boas had only ovaries, as did the parthenogen, but the males, interestingly, had both testes and ovaries. We believe (and are examining this further) that the males ovaries degenerate shortly beofre sexual maturity.

Q4) And lastly, you speculate the reason for WW females is the possibility the dam of the litter was hemizygous or was it some meiotic aberration during oogenesis (from the dam)?

A4) We do not believe it is a meiotic disfuntion. The reason being, is that if it were, we would see it in a single egg cell. Not 22 over the space of two years. Additionally, there would be some males produced that did not have this disfunction.

Q5) I lied--here is another. There appears to be some variation in the offspring; can you speculate what is happening? There seems to be some kind of gene shuffling going on. I am not familiar with oogenesis in boids, or terminal fusion for that matter (w/second polar body). If meiosis is occurring, there should be some gene mixing, right?

A5) Well, very basically, as you can see from table 2, the female is heterozygous for multiple loci. When she produces egg cells, they will have one or the other allele at each locus, and that is random. Therefore, there is a 50:50 chance that the egg will get one allele or the other. The end result are a group of egg cells that are genetically variable to each other.

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Sorry, for all the questions. I am just trying to understand every aspect of this paper so I may explain it to my students.

Back to teaching...good work!
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You are very welcome. Feel free to contact me with any further questions you might have. I am glad you enjoyed the paper.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. The tables make perfect sense (I realize the PCR information is important for the methods section). I am shocked to hear males have both sex organs at birth, or as neonates. I am hoping you can speak more to terminal fusion and oogenesis (in boas)--I am assuming oogenesis in boas is similar to humans. Also, how did you know the babies were WW females specifically (as opposed to ZW) if the sex chromosomes are homomorphic? What was the test? (I may have missed this part.)

Now to your questions:

1) How do you know your litters were parthenogenetic without genetic testing?
I don't—I was unaware of any sort of testing for boids and nor did I have the means. But, the answers to the following questions should confirm? my speculation.

2) What were teh circumstances surrounding each litter?
Off the top of my head (not good science)--all high prevalence of homozygotes and slugs:

1) Sharp albino x Anery= all female anerys (around 5) and high slug count; don't believe the Sharp was het anery based on further breeding trials (and the male albino was not sold as such)

2) Sharp Sunglow x Ghost= all female anerys (2-3) and 2 deformed super looking ghosts (around 5 animals in total) and high slug count; there is a possibility of het anery on the part of the male, but I doubt he sired the litter based on the outcome (and my previous experiences; also not good science)

3) VPI T positive x Ghost= 5 (or so) anerys and 2 (I think) super looking ghosts (all female) and high slug count (I have this data at home); male T pos had been bred to her before with no anery or ghost offspring (i.e. he is not het anery)

3) How many females produced these litters?
I believe four (an anery, 2-3 different ghosts); I should have kept better records. I can probably dig up more data from old records.

4) What were the ratios of offspring to slugs? Also were they all female litters. What were the litter sizes?
all female; 5 live (w/sometimes few stillborn deformities) to approx 15-20 slugs; the litters are all 5-7 live offspring

5) Are you willing to provide shed skins from each live animal, tissue from dead? babies, adult females, and any males those "parthenogenetic" litter producing female were with?
I only have the last litter, but YES! The parents from the first two aforementioned litters have been sold and the parthenogens have either died or been sold (not understanding what had happened). I have only recently begun to speculate what has been occurring over the last 3-5 years.

Sorry for the sloppy response, I am also trying to teach at the same time.
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Ron Michelotti

Class Reptilia
www.classreptilia.com

Excellent paper Dr. Booth, and congratulations on having it published!
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Kevin Blumenthal
www.blumenboas.com