Sex is not about promoting genetic variation, researchers argue

Biology textbooks maintain that the main function of sex is to promote genetic diversity. But in a new article, two researchers say that's not the case. They propose that although diversity may result from a combination of genes, the primary function of sex is not about promoting diversity. Rather, it's about keeping the genome context -- an organism's complete collection of genes arranged by chromosome composition and topology -- as unchanged as possible, thereby maintaining a species' identity.

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