The sexes function to purge mutations via selection on males, boosting the ability of sex to maintain genome integrity

Abstract

The function of the sexes is revealed within the context of new understanding that sex maintains genome integrity. Whereas originally evolved features of sex, conserved in early stages of meiosis, repair gross DNA damage, later phases repair fine-scale DNA damage (mutations) via ploidy and the sexes effecting purifying selection. Rather than in anisogamy, the (proto-)male arises in mating-types, revealing that greater selection on the male is the male’s defining characteristic; this confirmed in experiment and modelling. The variation theory ignores all evidence from many fields that it’s asexual reproduction that produces variation. Recent tests unwittingly support the genome-integrity model. The profundity of male/female distinction in differential selection prompts new understanding of sociality and psychology in sex-specific terms.

Key words: function of the sexes, selection on the male, purging mutation, genome integrity, DNA repair