The Significance of Sexuality

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Abstract
Sexuality is not an indispensable feature of life but as an evolved feature has these advantages: (1) diploid rather than haploid organization, which results in a more vigorous and resistant organism having greater survival value, and which makes it possible for a defective or lethal gene derived from one parent to be offset by a sound gene derived from the other parent; (2) superior vigor of heterozygous as compared with homo-zygous genetic combinations; (3) greater genetic variability and so greater adaptability. Self sterility is a means of maintaining a certain amount of heterozygos- ity within a sp. and preventing lethal genes from becoming homozygous. A self sterile sp. is one which contains at least 2 recessive lethal allelomorphs of the same gene essential to the proper performance of some vital function. Each of these allelomorphs is prevented from becoming homozygous by the phenomenon of self sterility. Exogamy in human populations is essential to prevent the frequent outcropping of lethal or seriously harmful recessive mutations, which in a heterozygous state are harmless.

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