Sex Is Always Well Worth Its Two-Fold Cost 英文参考文献.docVIP

SexIsAlwaysWellWorthItsTwo-FoldCost AlexanderFeigel*,AvrahamEnglander,AssafEngel SoreqNRC,Yavne,Israel Abstract Sex is considered as an evolutionary paradox, since its positive contribution to Darwinian fitness remains unverified for some species. Defenses against unpredictable threats (parasites, fluctuating environment and deleterious mutations) are indeed significantly improved by wider genetic variability and by positive epistasis gained by sexual reproduction. The correspondingevolutionaryadvantages,however,donotovercomeuniversallythebarrierofthetwo-foldcostforsharing halfofone’soffspringgenomewithanothermemberofthepopulation.Hereweshowthatsexualreproductionemerges andismaintainedevenwhenitsDarwinianfitnessistwiceaslowasthefitnessofasexuals.Wealsoshowthatmorethan twosexes(inheritanceofgeneticmaterialfromthreeorevenmoreparents)arealwaysevolutionaryunstable.Ourapproach generalizes theevolutionarygame theory toanalyze species whosemembers areable tosense thesexualstate of their conspecificsandtoadapttheirownsexconsequently,eitherbyswitchingorbytaxistowardsthehighestconcentrationof thecomplementarysex.Thewidespreademergenceandmaintenanceofsexfollowsthereforefromitsco-evolutionwith theevenmorewidespreadenvironmentalsensingabilities. Citation:FeigelA,EnglanderA,EngelA(2009)SexIsAlwaysWellWorthItsTwo-FoldCost.PLoSONE4(7):e6012.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006012 Editor:RobertBelshaw,UniversityofOxford,UnitedKingdom ReceivedSeptember3,2008;AcceptedMay12,2009;PublishedJuly7,2009 Copyright: ? 2009 Feigel et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricteduse,distribution,andreproductioninanymedium,providedtheoriginalauthorandsourcearecredited. Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparationofthemanuscript. CompetingInterests:Theauthorshavedeclaredthatnocompetinginterests