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Abandoning sex: multiple origins of asexuality in the ciliate Tetrahymena

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, May 2014
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (71st percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (60th percentile)

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Title
Abandoning sex: multiple origins of asexuality in the ciliate Tetrahymena
Published in
BMC Ecology and Evolution, May 2014
DOI 10.1186/1471-2148-14-112
Pubmed ID
Authors

F Paul Doerder

Abstract

By segregating somatic and germinal functions into large, compound macronuclei and small diploid micronuclei, respectively, ciliates can explore sexuality in ways other eukaryotes cannot. Sex, for instance, is not for reproduction but for nuclear replacement in the two cells temporarily joined in conjugation. With equal contributions from both conjugants, there is no cost of sex which theory predicts should favor asexuality. Yet ciliate asexuality is rare. The exceptional Tetrahymena has abandoned sex through loss of the micronucleus; its amicronucleates are abundant in nature where they reproduce by binary fission but never form conjugating pairs. A possible reason for their abundance is that the Tetrahymena macronucleus does not accumulate mutations as proposed by Muller's ratchet. As such, Tetrahymena amicronucleates have the potential to be very old. This study used cytochrome oxidase-1 barcodes to determine the phylogenetic origin and relative age of amicronucleates isolated from nature.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 46 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 2%
Portugal 1 2%
Brazil 1 2%
Unknown 43 93%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 14 30%
Researcher 9 20%
Other 3 7%
Student > Master 3 7%
Student > Bachelor 2 4%
Other 8 17%
Unknown 7 15%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 19 41%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 7 15%
Medicine and Dentistry 3 7%
Business, Management and Accounting 1 2%
Computer Science 1 2%
Other 3 7%
Unknown 12 26%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 July 2014.
All research outputs
#7,356,550
of 25,374,917 outputs
Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#1,676
of 3,714 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#66,143
of 241,294 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#29
of 76 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,917 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 69th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,714 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 241,294 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 76 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its contemporaries.