Is Drinking Too Much Water Bad

Carlos Donou

Dr. Agapito

BI 183 01

November 09, 2015

Reading Assignment

Bdelloid Rotifers are micro invertebrates with unique characteristics. Their unique set of characteristics allows them to withstand extreme desiccation by undergoing anhydrobiosis (a process whereby microscopic organisms slowly lose body water by evaporation in response to dry and cold temperatures). This process allows them to withstand extreme cold temperatures. The most unique aspect of Bdelloid’s is their ability to eat DNA from fungi and other bacteria to survive. Bdelloid’s are also asexual organisms who have survived tens of millions of years without sexual reproduction. Asexual has many advantages compared to sexual reproduction. Besides not requiring any mates, asexual reproduction also provides rapid populating. This ability to reproduce in large quantities helps their species continue to survive; which leads to the “red queen” theory.

The “red queen” theory is an evolutionary process. The term is taken from the Red Queen's race in Lewis Carroll's “Through the Looking-Glass”. The Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." The Red Queen Principle states that "For an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in order to maintain its fitness relative to the systems it is co-evolving with." In simpler terms, this evolutionary hypothesis proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive. This evolutionary process is followed by Bdelloid Rotifers. While reading the paper named “Biochemical Diversification through Foreign Gene Expression in Bdelloid Rotifers,” it became clear that the objective of the scientific paper was to study and investigate unique features of Bdelloid’s, such as their ability to acquire genes from other organism through the process of Horizontal Gene Transfer. Horizontal gene transfer refers to the transfer of genes...