Research article
Sexual selection and the evolution of obligatory sex
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* Corresponding author: Lilach Hadany lilach-hadany@uiowa.edu
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2007, 7:245 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-245
Published: 20 December 2007Abstract
Background
Among the long-standing conundrums of evolutionary theory, obligatory sex is one of the hardest. Current theory suggests multiple factors that might explain the benefits of sex when compared with complete asexuality, but no satisfactory explanation for the prevalence of obligatory sex in the face of facultative sexual reproduction.
Results and Conclusion
We show that when sexual selection is present obligatory sex can evolve and be maintained even against facultative sex, under common scenarios of deleterious mutations and environmental changes.