Disentangling the benefits of sex
Understanding the evolutionary advantage of sexual reproduction remains one of the most fundamental questions in evolutionary biology. Most of the current hypotheses rely on the fact that sex increases genetic variation, thereby enhancing the efficiency of natural selection; an important body of the...
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Published in | PLoS biology Vol. 10; no. 5; p. e1001321 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
01.05.2012
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Understanding the evolutionary advantage of sexual reproduction remains one of the most fundamental questions in evolutionary biology. Most of the current hypotheses rely on the fact that sex increases genetic variation, thereby enhancing the efficiency of natural selection; an important body of theoretical work has defined the conditions under which sex can be favoured through this effect. Over the last decade, experimental evolution in model organisms has provided evidence that sex indeed allows faster rates of adaptation. A new study on facultatively sexual rotifers shows that increased rates of sex can be favoured during adaptation to new environmental conditions and explores the cause of this effect. The results provide support for the idea that the benefits of increasing genetic variation may compensate for the short-term costs of sexual reproduction. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Primers provide a concise introduction into an important aspect of biology highlighted by a current PLoS Biology research article. |
ISSN: | 1545-7885 1544-9173 1545-7885 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001321 |