Clonal inheritance in parthenogenetic whiptail lizards: biochemical evidence

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Abstract
Electrophoresis of tissue proteins determined by at least 30 structural gene loci revealed extensive polymorphism in six unisexual species of whiptail lizards. Heterozygosity indices ranged from 0.37 to 0.40 in three diploid forms and from 0.33 to 0.43 in four triploid forms, attesting to their hybrid origins. For each of 12 laboratory-reared lineages, all individuals within a lineage had identical gene combinations, demonstrating fixed heterozygosity, even at several loci that were triply heterozygous in triploid species. No deviation from fixed heterozygosity was observed among 136 individuals, including six generations of parthenogenetic Cnemidophorus exsanguis. We conclude that a lineage of several generations of these vertebrates normally constitutes a clone.