Month: September 2022

COMMON VIEW. “Most people associate ‘sex’ with reproduction, where sperm of males fertilize the eggs of females, and where the sex of an individual is determined by sex chromosomes. Yet, the vast majority of organisms deviate in one or more respects from these ‘norms’.” https://lnkd.in/dnXHW-Z View in LinkedIn

THE WILD AND WONDERFUL. “Sex in microbes often occurs in the absence of reproduction. Most plants simultaneously are female and male, and some plants and fish change sex over time. And in mushrooms, after gamete fusion sex is postponed until just before reproduction. These deviations from the ‘norm’ may hamper our general understanding of sexual reproduction if we phrase general theories based on rules that only apply within a subset of species.” http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/weird-sex-underappreciated-diversity-sexual-reproduction View in LinkedIn

CONSERVED. “Sexual reproduction is one of the most highly conserved processes in evolution.” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631069116300658 View in LinkedIn

NOT CONSERVED. “The genetic and cellular mechanisms making the decision of whether the undifferentiated gonad of animal embryos develops either towards male or female are manifold and quite diverse.” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1631069116300658 View in LinkedIn

VERY DIVERSE. “In vertebrates, sex-determining mechanisms range from environmental to simple or complex genetic mechanisms and different mechanisms have evolved repeatedly and independently.” https://lnkd.in/dSwmRPP View in LinkedIn

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION involves only one parent, and mitosis gives identical clones, with 100% the same genes in the offspring as in the parent. It is the simplest method of reproduction, takes little energy, and is best under conditions of abundance. In contrast, sexual reproduction generates genetic variation, takes time in mating, and is well suited in unstable environmental conditions. View in LinkedIn

CLONAL GROWTH. "Vegetative reproduction involves the production of genetically identical individuals capable of independent existence and reproduction as a result of plant growth. Indeed, following Harper, many botanists prefer the term “clonal growth” and deliberately avoid using the terms “vegetative or clonal reproduction”. To quote Harper (ref. 12, p. 27), “clones are formed by growth—not reproduction.” https://lnkd.in/dWczCFf View in LinkedIn

UNIT OF SELECTION. "This perspective has merit because it identifies the appropriate unit of selection—the clonal genotype—and has led to a focus on the developmental mechanisms and patterns of growth that produce clonal offspring." https://lnkd.in/dWczCFf View in LinkedIn

DISTINCTION. "Because clonal growth does not involve sexual reproduction, botanists make a clear distinction between predominant self-fertilization and clonal reproduction, a separation that is not as evident in the literature involving some other groups: e.g., fungi and parasitic protozoa. Both forms of uniparental reproduction limit recombination and can result in similar signatures of population genetic structure." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

DISTINCT STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES. "However, in plants, clonal growth and selfing result from entirely different structures and processes, and the selective forces responsible for their respective origins and maintenance are quite distinct." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn