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1 of 7 6/16/2019, 11:17 AM
The Evolution of Sex Could Have Provided a Defense Against Cancer Cells about:reader?url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolu...
But things changed with the evolution of eukaryotes more than 2.5
billion years ago. These organisms contain central nuclei
encompassing their genomes in a set of chromosomes. Groups of
eukaryotes joined together to form the first multicellular
organisms—the predecessors of all complex life on Earth, from
plants to insects and reptiles to mammals. When these organisms
reproduce, genetic material is contributed from two mates, creating
genetically unique offspring.
2 of 7 6/16/2019, 11:17 AM
The Evolution of Sex Could Have Provided a Defense Against Cancer Cells about:reader?url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolu...
3 of 7 6/16/2019, 11:17 AM
The Evolution of Sex Could Have Provided a Defense Against Cancer Cells about:reader?url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolu...
4 of 7 6/16/2019, 11:17 AM
The Evolution of Sex Could Have Provided a Defense Against Cancer Cells about:reader?url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolu...
“You can think of cancer as this selfish phenomenon that dies with
the individual,” Neiman adds. “But what if it didn’t? How would that
change the evolutionary landscape?”
In the paper, Thomas and colleagues lay out some of the changes
to the evolutionary landscape they would expect to see if their
hypothesis is correct. Transmissible cancers, for example, would
likely be rare in sexually reproducing species, and this is in fact the
case. Only a handful of examples exist, such as Tasmanian devil
facial lesions and leukemia in some clams.
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The Evolution of Sex Could Have Provided a Defense Against Cancer Cells about:reader?url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolu...
The team is also working with cloned hydra, marine organisms that
can reproduce both sexually and asexually depending on
environmental conditions. According to Thomas Madsen, a life
scientist at Deakin University and coauthor of the new study, the
goal is to “try to ‘infect’ healthy clonal hydras with cancer cells and
investigate their evolutionary response.” If the new theory of sex is
correct, infected hydras should choose sexual reproduction over
asexual.
But the origin of sex has always been messy, and Neiman believes
it will stay that way. “I think the complexity and just messiness of
biology is often going to demand what we call pluralistic or multiple
explanations,” she says. “I don’t think there is going to be a general,
6 of 7 6/16/2019, 11:17 AM
The Evolution of Sex Could Have Provided a Defense Against Cancer Cells about:reader?url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolu...
7 of 7 6/16/2019, 11:17 AM