All living beings are connected and share a common ancestor - the tree of life. Life involves change. It comprises those processes such as reproduction, variation and inheritance. Reproduction is vital and occurs in various modes, sexual reproduction being the dominant one in the eukaryotic kingdom. Nevertheless, several types of reproductive modes evolved and persist.

One of the main interests of the Karine Van Doninck lab is to tackle fundamental questions related to the evolution of asexual reproductive modes and to understand the factors contributing to genomic variation and adaptation. Karine studies especially bdelloid rotifers employing a specific mode of asexual reproduction. Rotifers from the Class Bdelloidea are common microscopic metazoans that appear to be obligate ancient asexuals (“all-female asexuality”). They have a worldwide distribution, occurring preferentially in ephemerally aquatic habitats such as mosses and lichens because they can survive desiccation at any stage of their life cycle.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx