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A Case for the Extreme Antiquity of Recombination

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Abstract

Recombination is usually assumed to be a mode of reproduction that evolved long after asexual reproduction in response to specific genetic and environmental circumstances. Here the argument is made that recombination was an evolutionary development as ancient as the origins of life. To support this proposition four lines of evidence are given, in particular, the need for primordial genomes to acquire substantial length and to escape from Muller’s Ratchet.

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Acknowledgements

I thank A. Krummel, M. Zwick, and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on the manuscript, and NASA for funding (NAG5-11441).

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207, USA

    Niles Lehman

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Lehman, N. A Case for the Extreme Antiquity of Recombination . J Mol Evol 56, 770–777 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2454-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2454-1

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