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Review
. 2014 Mar 1;6(3):a016154.
doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a016154.

Origins of eukaryotic sexual reproduction

Ursula Goodenough  1 , Joseph Heitman
Affiliations
Review

Origins of eukaryotic sexual reproduction

Ursula Goodenough et al. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. .

Abstract

Sexual reproduction is a nearly universal feature of eukaryotic organisms. Given its ubiquity and shared core features, sex is thought to have arisen once in the last common ancestor to all eukaryotes. Using the perspectives of molecular genetics and cell biology, we consider documented and hypothetical scenarios for the instantiation and evolution of meiosis, fertilization, sex determination, uniparental inheritance of organelle genomes, and speciation.

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