Recurrent loss of sex is associated with accumulation of deleterious mutations in Oenothera

Happy Darwin Day! Yes, that is right, Charles Darwin is 206 years old today! If that is not enough, love is in the air and that is why this week’s Hot Student/Postdoc paper is so apropos. Former Postdoc Jesse Hollister (Johnson & Wright Labs) has experimentally shown that sex is good for your health, at least if you are a plant. Jesse published “Recurrent loss of sex is associated with accumulation of deleterious mutations in Oenothera” in Molecular Biology and Evolution. He studied the evening primrose genus Oenothera where there have been >20 independent transitions from a sexual to a functionally asexual genetic system. After using Illumina based RNA-seq to sequence ca. 20,000 proteins form each of 29 species and multiple populations within some species, Jesse found that asexual Oenothera accumulate more deleterious mutations than sexual Oenothera. This study provides the first solid genomic evidence in support of the long-standing theory that a major benefit of sexual reproduction is that it enables individuals a way to get rid of deleterious mutations.

Jesse is now a new Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University. Congrats, Jesse!