Evolutionary Dynamics of Recombination and Sexual Reproduction
Summary
Recombination and sexual reproduction lie at the heart of evolutionary innovation, reshuffling alleles to generate genetic diversity and enabling populations to adapt to shifting environments. Meiotic recombination breaks and rejoins homologous chromosomes, producing novel allele combinations that can be favoured by natural selection. Sexual reproduction further amplifies variation by combining genomes from two parents, countering the accumulation of harmful mutations and facilitating the co-evolutionary arms races described by the Red Queen hypothesis. The balance between the costs of sex—such as the twofold cost of males—and its benefits depends on factors including epistasis, linkage disequilibrium and environmental heterogeneity. Empirical studies have demonstrated that recombination rates can be plastic, rising under stress or when fitness is low, thereby accelerating adaptation. Theoretical models reveal that fitness-dependent recombination may be advantageous even when constant recombination is disfavoured, while sexual selection can stabilise obligatory sex in the face of deleterious mutations. Together, these dynamics underscore the global significance of recombination and sex in shaping biodiversity, from microbial communities to complex multicellular organisms, and offer practical insights into breeding strategies, pest management and the mitigation of drug resistance.
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Evolutionary Dynamics of Recombination and Sexual Reproduction publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in evolutionary dynamics of recombination and sexual reproduction across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Meiotic recombination: Exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes during meiosis, generating new allele combinations.
Epistasis: Interaction between genes in which the effect of one locus depends on alleles at another locus.
Linkage disequilibrium: Non-random association of alleles at different loci in a population, influencing the inheritance of genetic variants.
Fitness-dependent recombination: Modulation of recombination rate according to an individual’s fitness, promoting adaptive potential.
Obligatory sex: Reproductive system requiring sexual reproduction each generation despite associated costs, maintained by selection.
References
- Increased exposure to acute thermal stress is associated with a non-linear increase in recombination frequency and an independent linear decrease in fitness in Drosophila. BMC Ecology and Evolution (2015).
- Interaction-based evolution: how natural selection and nonrandom mutation work together. Biology Direct (2013).
- The evolutionary advantage of fitness‐dependent recombination in diploids: A deterministic mutation–selection balance model. Ecology and Evolution (2020).
- Sexual selection and the evolution of obligatory sex. BMC Ecology and Evolution (2007).
- The maintenance of sex: Ronald Fisher meets the Red Queen. BMC Ecology and Evolution (2013).
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