Go It Alone? Sex And The Single Primrose

Sunday, January 18, 2015 - 14:50 in Biology & Nature

Sex or no sex?  If you want to be healthier as a species over time, sexual reproduction is the way to go, according to a new study.  It's a long-debated topic among biologists - some argue that sexual reproduction is superior because species don't accumulate harmful mutations as easily as in asexual reproduction. Using various species of the evening primrose (Oenothera) as his model, Dr. Jesse Hollister, assistant professor at Stony Brook University in New York, and colleagues demonstrated strong support for reproducing sexually. "These findings allow us to understand why an enormous diversity of species around the world go through the laborious process of sexual reproduction," says Hollister. read more

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