Jose Casal and Peter Lawrence
- A group of researchers was able to successfully engineer "virgin birth" in fruit flies.
- Asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, is common in nature, but had never been engineered.
- The research establishes a genetic basis for asexual reproduction, and could help with pest control.
Scientists say they have created "virgin births" in female fruit flies for the first time.
Researchers were able to identify a gene that allowed the insects to reproduce without sperm from a father.
"We're the first to show that you can engineer virgin births to happen in an animal," said Dr. Alexis Sperling, a researcher at the University of Cambridge who was involved in the study.
"It was very exciting to see a virgin fly produce an embryo able to develop to adulthood, and then repeat the process."