Sexual selection and the evolution of obligatory sex

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Among the long-standing conundrums of evolutionary theory, obligatory sex is one of the hardest. Current theory suggests multiple factors that might explain the benefits of sex when compared with complete asexuality, but no satisfact...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Beker Tuvik, Hadany Lilach
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2007-12-01
Series:BMC Evolutionary Biology
Online Access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/7/245
Description
Summary:<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Among the long-standing conundrums of evolutionary theory, obligatory sex is one of the hardest. Current theory suggests multiple factors that might explain the benefits of sex when compared with complete asexuality, but no satisfactory explanation for the prevalence of obligatory sex in the face of facultative sexual reproduction.</p> <p>Results and Conclusion</p> <p>We show that when sexual selection is present obligatory sex can evolve and be maintained even against facultative sex, under common scenarios of deleterious mutations and environmental changes.</p>
ISSN:1471-2148