Polyembryony
Sign in to savePolyembryony is the phenomenon of two or more embryos developing from a single fertilized egg. Due to the embryos resulting from the same egg, the embryos are identical to one another, but are genetically diverse from the parents. The genetic difference between the offspring and the parents, but the similarity among siblings, are significant distinctions between polyembryony and the process of budding and typical sexual reproduction. Polyembryony can occur in humans, resulting in identical twins, though the process is random and at a low frequency. Polyembryony occurs regularly in many species
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Evolution of polyembryony
- Vertebrates
- Invertebrates
- Plants
- See also
- References
- External links
Polyembryony is the phenomenon of two or more embryos developing from a single fertilized egg. Due to the embryos resulting from the same egg, the embryos are identical to one another, but are genetically diverse from the parents. The genetic difference between the offspring and the parents, but the similarity among siblings, are significant distinctions between polyembryony and the process of budding and typical sexual reproduction. Polyembryony can occur in humans, resulting in identical twins, though the process is random and at a low frequency. Polyembryony occurs regularly in many species of vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants.
== Evolution of polyembryony == The evolution of polyembryony and the potential evolutionary advantages that may entail have been studied. In parasitoid wasps, there are several hypotheses surrounding the evolutionary advantages of polyembryony, one of them being that it allows female wasps that are small in size to increase the number of potential offspring in comparison to wasps that are mono embryonic. There are limitations to monoembryony, but with this method of development, multiple embryos can be derived from each of the individual eggs that are laid.