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Related Concept Videos

Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
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Morphogenesis

Plant morphogenesis—the development of a plant’s form and structure—involves several overlapping developmental processes, including growth and cell differentiation. Precursor cells differentiate into specific cell types, which are organized into the tissues and organ systems that make up the functional plant.
Natural Selection and Mating Preferences01:06

Natural Selection and Mating Preferences

The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
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Yeast Signaling

Yeasts are single-celled organisms, but unlike bacteria, they are eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus). Cell signaling in yeast is similar to signaling in other eukaryotic cells. A ligand, such as a protein or a small molecule released from a yeast cell, attaches to a receptor on the cell surface. The binding stimulates second-messenger kinases to activate or inactivate transcription factors that further regulate gene expression. Many of the yeast intracellular signaling cascades have similar...
The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes02:45

The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes

In most organisms, sex is determined by the ratio of X and Y chromosomes. However, in some organisms, such as Drosophila and C.elegans, sex is determined by the ratio of the number of X chromosomes to the number of sets of autosomes. The Y chromosome in Drosophila is active but does not determine sex. It contains genes responsible for the production of sperms in adult flies.  
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Dosage Compensation02:50

Dosage Compensation

In animals, gender is determined by the number and type of sex chromosome. For example, human females have two X chromosomes, and males have one X and one Y chromosome, whereas C.elegans with one X chromosome is a male, and the one with two X chromosomes is a hermaphrodite.
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Sexual Crosses with the Mucoromycete Phycomyces blakesleeanus
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Published on: June 6, 2025

What uses are mating types? The "developmental switch" model.

Nicolas Perrin1

  • 1Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Nicolas.Perrin@unil.ch

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|April 11, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Mating types in sexual reproduction evolved not to control organelles or prevent inbreeding, but to trigger the correct developmental programs, like meiosis or gametogenesis, at the right time.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Developmental biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • The evolutionary origins of mating types are debated, with hypotheses including organelle transmission control and inbreeding prevention.
  • Existing theories do not fully explain the observed diversity in mating type structures and functions across taxa.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review diverse taxa data and challenge existing hypotheses on mating type evolution.
  • To propose an alternative hypothesis for the primary role of mating types in developmental programming.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing data from various taxa: ciliates, algae, slime molds, ascomycetes, and basidiomycetes.
  • Comparative analysis of mating type structure and function across different species.

Main Results:

  • Data from diverse taxa contradict hypotheses related to organelle transmission and inbreeding prevention.
  • Mating types appear to function counter to these proposed roles.

Conclusions:

  • Mating types primarily evolved to act as crucial developmental switches.
  • They ensure the correct genetic program (e.g., meiosis, gametogenesis) is activated at the appropriate stage of the sexual cycle and in response to environmental cues.