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ON CELLS AND NUCLEI. “And while cell–cell and nuclear–nuclear fusion play prominent roles in sexual reproduction today, there may have been an era in which endoreplication cycles followed by meiosis drove the processes of ploidy change during ancestral modes of sexual reproduction. In this view, cell–cell fusion may be ancient, but perhaps not as ancient as other features of sexual reproduction.” https://lnkd.in/dn4azG7 View in LinkedIn

NUMBER OF CHROMOSOME SETS. “And when we think of how sex first evolved, this involved changes in ploidy and the process of meiosis, given their conserved nature throughout eukaryotes.” https://lnkd.in/dn4azG7 View in LinkedIn

AQUATIC BIFLAGELLATE. “But in other ways, it was already quite complex, with a nucleus, mitochondria, secretory apparatus, RNAi, and reproducing both asexually and sexually. Thus, when we think of where sex first evolved, it was in the water, involving swimming cells.” https://lnkd.in/dn4azG7 View in LinkedIn

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Leaf stomata (sandstone). View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends on the evolution of sex across species, and insights from the kingdom of fungi, where the process is extremely diverse. In biology, reproduction is absolutely key to species survival, and natural systems do everything possible to enhance its success. You may think that a Friday night date is quite innocent, but it is as deeply hardwired into your genome as your very metabolism. See how John Donne deals with reproductive rejection in The Flea (~1590). https://lnkd.in/dSFaHyp View in LinkedIn

THE SINGLE GENE. “A single gene resident on the Y chromosome, SRY, is sufficient to direct male fate and transferring this single gene from the Y to the X chromosome suffices to cause sex reversal in both humans and in mice.” https://lnkd.in/dn4azG7 View in LinkedIn