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Review
. 2003 Jun;56(6):770-7.
doi: 10.1007/s00239-003-2454-1.

A case for the extreme antiquity of recombination

Niles Lehman  1
Affiliations
Review

A case for the extreme antiquity of recombination

Niles Lehman. J Mol Evol. 2003 Jun.

Abstract

Recombination is usually assumed to be a mode of reproduction that evolved long after asexual reproduction in response to specific genetic and environmental circumstances. Here the argument is made that recombination was an evolutionary development as ancient as the origins of life. To support this proposition four lines of evidence are given, in particular, the need for primordial genomes to acquire substantial length and to escape from Muller's Ratchet.

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