Genetic damage, mutation, and the evolution of sex.
The two fundamental aspects of sexual reproduction, recombination and outcrossing, appear to be maintained respectively by the advantages of recombinational repair and genetic complementation. Genetic variation is produced as a by-product of recombinational repair, but it may not be the function of sexual reproduction.
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002875:Chromosomes; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004260:DNA Repair; D005260:Female; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012098:Reproduction; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis