Xu Jianping
Department of Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada.
Genome. 2004 Oct;47(5):775-80. doi: 10.1139/g04-037.
The origin of sex and how sex is maintained are among the biggest puzzles in biology. Most investigations into this problem have focused on complex eukaryotes like animals and plants. This mini-review summarizes recent progress in our understanding of the evolution of sex, highlighting results from studies of experimental and natural populations of microorganisms. Increasing evidence indicates that sexual reproduction in natural populations of viruses, bacteria, and eukaryotic microbes is much more prevalent than previously thought. In addition, investigations using experimental microbial populations are providing important parameters relevant to our understanding of the origin and maintenance of sex. It is argued that microbes are excellent model organisms to explore the mechanisms responsible for the evolution of sex.
性别起源以及性别如何得以维持是生物学领域最大的谜题之一。对这一问题的大多数研究都聚焦于动物和植物等复杂真核生物。这篇小型综述总结了我们在理解性别进化方面的最新进展，着重介绍了对微生物实验种群和自然种群研究的成果。越来越多的证据表明，病毒、细菌和真核微生物自然种群中的有性生殖比之前认为的要普遍得多。此外，利用实验微生物种群开展的研究正在提供一些重要参数，有助于我们理解性别起源与维持。有人认为，微生物是探索性别进化机制的极佳模式生物。
