Is Sex Primarily a Strategy against Transmissible Cancer? (IMAGE)

PLOS

Is Sex Primarily a Strategy against Transmissible Cancer?

Caption

By blending genetics, sexual reproduction produces greater genetic diversity in a population, limiting the transmission of cancer cells across individuals in the population. This genetic diversity facilitates detection of the invading non-self cells and also limits the chances that the transmissible cancer cells are preadapted to the new host. Thus, cancer cells regularly emerge in individuals, but often malignant cells fail to be transmitted.

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<p><em>PLOS Biology </em> <br>10.1371/journal.pbio.3000275

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