STRESS may not be much of a turn-on for us, but it seems that, at least in algae, sex may have evolved as a response to stressful conditions.
Aurora Nedelcu at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada, showed that sex in the alga Volvox carteri (pictured) is a response to oxidative stress – damage caused by reactive oxygen-containing compounds (New Scientist, 19 June 2004, p 14). Her latest study compared the relevant genes in V. carteri with those in its single-celled relative Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, revealing the evolutionary connections between the two.
Sex in V. carteri is induced…
