The evolutionary origin and maintenance of sexual recombination, and its advantages in a facultatively sexual organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The evolution of sexual recombination has been a topic of much interest as well as controversy for over a hundred years. In order to shed some light on the issue I have compiled an in depth review of the current theories for the evolutionary origin of sex, as well as for its maintenance once it had arisen. In addition to a comprehensive survey of the literature, two original works pertaining to the evolution of sex, are included in chapters 16 and 17. These articles detail experiments which were conducted using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an experimental system with which to model various aspects of the evolution of sex. Finally, some broad conclusions are made which will hopefully sum up the current state of knowledge with respect to the evolutionary origin and maintenance of sexual recombination.