There are manyexcellent cause to have gender , although scientifically utter , getting jiggy is a very dear way to produce offspring . Not only does it practice up a lot of energy , but it is also horribly inefficient , requiring two consenting adults to bring on just one babe . However , researchers from Stirling University may have finally lick the mystery of why most animals continue to reproduce sexually rather than asexually , by get a line that it hike successive generation ’ resistance to parasites .
gender is not entirely ubiquitous throughout the natural macrocosm , as many species – such as bacteria and bananas – procreate by clone themselves , therefore requiring just one parent . This asexual method bestow several benefits , not least of which is the fact that it farm an alone distaff population , with every individual able to procreate .
In dividing line , organisms thatreproduce sexuallyend up with half their universe being male person , none of whom are able to actually give birth , which mean sexual colony are only able to grow at half the pep pill of asexual ones .
To figure out why so many species insist onhaving sex , researchers conducted an experiment using the waterflea , which , unlike most brute , is able to regurgitate both sexually and asexually .
The team collected both clonal and intimate materialization and exposed them to parasite that had infected the fleas ’ parent . Resultsl , which are published in theProceedings of the Royal Society B , show that sexually produced progeny were twice as resistant to contagion as those that had been produced asexually .
This is because clonal materialization are genetically identical to their exclusive parent , which means that parasites that have evolved to taint the maternal contemporaries are equally infectious to all subsequent genesis .
However , intimate reproduction introduces genetic mix , top to variations among young so that future generation can out - evolve the parasites of their parents .
In astatement , lead generator Stuart Auld excuse that “ by comparing clonal and intimate daughters from the same female parent , we found sexually produced offspring get less sick than progeny that were produce clonally . The ever - present need to duck disease can explain why sex persists in the natural humanity in spite of the toll . ”
So , if ever the human race becomes peril by an apocalyptical infective disease , our adept bet may be to shag our way out of trouble .
