---

Sexual reproduction brings long-term benefits, study shows

April 10, 2012

Courtship rituals can be all-consuming, demanding time and effort - but now scientists have discovered why it might be worth it.

Attracting a mate - which can take significant effort, such as in a peacock's show of feathers or the exhaustive rutting of stags - can produce benefits for a species in the long term, a study suggests.

Scientists have shown that animals and plants which reproduce sexually are at a considerable advantage to those species - such as some insects and reptiles - that reproduce without a partner.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh studied sexual reproduction in tiny fruit flies to learn more about how DNA is randomly shuffled when the genes of two parents combine to create a new individual.

They found that this recombination of genetic material allows for damaging elements of DNA - which might cause disease or other potential drawbacks - to be weeded out within a few generations. Individuals who inherit healthy genes tend to flourish and pass on their DNA to the next generation, while weaker individuals are more likely to die without reproducing.

The findings, made possible by genome sequencing technology, provide strong evidence to back up a long-standing theory that sexual reproduction, rather than asexual cloning of an individual, has long-term benefits for a species.

Scientists studied how the DNA of fruit flies is affected when the recombination of DNA does not occur. They found that harmful DNA quickly accumulates, making the species weaker overall in the long term.

Researchers say the findings may help inform the development of crop species with high yields. The study, published in Genome Biology and Evolution, was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council.

University of Edinburgh

Related Sexual Reproduction Current Events and Sexual Reproduction News Articles

Missing link in Parkinson's disease found
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have described a missing link in understanding how damage to the body's cellular power plants leads to Parkinson's disease and, perhaps surprisingly, to some forms of heart failure.

Clues to chromosome crossovers
Neil Hunter's laboratory in the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences has placed another piece in the puzzle of how sexual reproduction shuffles genes while making sure sperm and eggs get the right number of chromosomes

Discovery of sexual mating in fungi that causes 400,000 deaths per year could provide insights on how to prevent and treat infections
Like many fungi and one-celled organisms, Candida albicans, a normally harmless microbe that can turn deadly, has long been thought to reproduce without sexual mating.

The secret sex life of the penicillin-producing fungus could make it more productive
New and more effective strains of the fungus used to produce penicillin could be developed after a team of international scientists unearthed the secret sex life of Sir Alexander Fleming's fungus Penicillium chrysogenum (P. chrysogenum).

Unlike we thought for 100 years: Molds are able to reproduce sexually
For over 100 years, it was assumed that the penicillin-producing mould fungus Penicillium chrysogenum only reproduced asexually through spores.

2 new species of orchid found in Cuba
Researchers from the University of Vigo, in collaboration with the Environmental Services Unit at the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park (Cuba), have discovered two new species of Caribbean orchid.

Solving a biological mystery
Harvard scientists have solved the long-standing mystery of how some insects form the germ cells - the cellular precursors to the eggs and sperm necessary for sexual reproduction - and the answer is shedding new light on the evolutionary origins of a gene that had long been thought to be critical to the process.

Gardener's delight offers glimpse into the evolution of flowering plants
The Pink Double Dandy peony, the Double Peppermint petunia, the Doubled Strawberry Vanilla lily and nearly all roses are varieties cultivated for their double flowers.

Physics and math shed new light on biology by mapping the landscape of evolution
Although the qualitative description of evolution - its observed behavior and characteristics - is well-established, a comprehensive quantitative theory that captures general evolution dynamics is still lacking.

New study by Syracuse University scientists uncovers a reproduction conundrum
When it comes to sperm meeting eggs in sexual reproduction, conventional wisdom holds that the fastest swimming sperm are most likely to succeed in their quest to fertilize eggs.

---

More Sexual Reproduction Current Events and Sexual Reproduction News Articles

---