Thursday, March 31, 2005

Sex Speeds Up Evolution, Study Finds

Sex Speeds Up Evolution, Study Finds
(National Geographic News)
The results suggest that a sexual population evolves faster than an asexual population when challenged by a new environment.

In a harsher environment, the sexual strain reached an increase in growth rate of 94 percent, but the asexual strain only 80 percent.

“This experiment provides clear and unambiguous evidence that sex allows faster adaptation to novel conditions,” said Rolf Hoekstra, a professor of genetics at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Hoekstra, who was not involved in the new study, wrote an accompanying commentary in Nature.

Not to mention heartbeat. Evolve faster, y’all!
Can’t say I’m too happy about the yeast connection, though.

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