ReviewHeredity2009
A combinational theory for maintenance of sex.
Review in Heredity, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Use of dN/dS Ratios to Investigate Types of Selection in Related Sexual and Asexual Lineages.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Review
- Genomic consequences of residual recombination in a hybrid apomictic hickory complex.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Multi-omics reveals nitrate-induced oxidative stress and morphogenesis pathways inIMA fungus · 2026Article
- New estimates and synthesis of chromosome numbers, ploidy levels and genome size variation in Allium sect. Codonoprasum: advancing our understanding of the unresolved diversification and evolution of this section.Botanical studies · 2024Article
- Apomixis and the paradox of sex in plants.Annals of botany · 2024Review
- Variability of Reproduction Pathways in the Central-European Populations of Hawthorns with Emphasis on Triploids.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Novel Approaches for Species Concepts and Delimitation in Polyploids and Hybrids.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Mutation or not, what directly establishes a neoplastic state, namely cellular immortality and autonomy, still remains unknown and should be prioritized in our research.Journal of Cancer · 2022Review
- Review
- Chasing the Apomictic Factors in theGenes · 2020Article
- Intricate Distribution Patterns of Six Cytotypes ofFrontiers in plant science · 2020Article
- Review
- A little bit of sex prevents mutation accumulation even in apomictic polyploid plants.BMC evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- Mycoplasma Chromosomal Transfer: A Distributive, Conjugative Process Creating an Infinite Variety of Mosaic Genomes.Frontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- What drives the shift between sexual and clonal reproduction of Caragana stenophylla along a climatic aridity gradient?BMC plant biology · 2018Article
- How oxygen gave rise to eukaryotic sex.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Review
- An Overview of the Function and Maintenance of Sexual Reproduction in Dikaryotic Fungi.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Review
- What can we infer about the origin of sex in early eukaryotes?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2016Review
- The evolution of meiotic sex and its alternatives.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Review
- Photoperiod Extension Enhances Sexual Megaspore Formation and Triggers Metabolic Reprogramming in Facultative Apomictic Ranunculus auricomus.Frontiers in plant science · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Sexual reproduction implies high costs, but it is difficult to give evidence for evolutionary advantages that would explain the predominance of meiotic sex in eukaryotes. A combinational theory discussing evolution, maintenance and loss of sex may resolve the problem. The main function of sex is the restoration of DNA and consequently a higher quality of offspring. Recombination at meiosis evolved, perhaps, as a repair mechanism of DNA strand damages. This mechanism is most efficient for DNA restoration in multicellular eukaryotes, because the initial cell starts with a re-optimized genome, which is passed to all the daughter cells. Meiosis acts also as creator of variation in haploid stages, in which selection can purge most efficiently deleterious mutations. A prolonged diploid phase buffers the effects of deleterious recessive alleles as well as epigenetic defects and is thus optimal for prolonged growth periods. For complex multicellular organisms, the main advantage of sexuality is thus the alternation of diploid and haploid stages, combining advantages of both. A loss of sex is constrained by several, partly group-specific, developmental features. Hybridization may trigger shifts from sexual to asexual reproduction, but crossing barriers of the parental sexual species limit this process. For the concerted break-up of meiosis-outcrossing cycles plus silencing of secondary features, various group-specific changes in the regulatory system may be required. An establishment of asexuals requires special functional modifications and environmental opportunities. Costs for maintenance of meiotic sex are consequently lower than a shift to asexual reproduction.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.