Eli5: We have a dna correction system to avoid variations, but, sexual reproduction to promote variations. So, Are variations good?

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Eli5: We have a dna correction system to avoid variations, but, sexual reproduction to promote variations. So, Are variations good?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes. Unintentional variations within dna can lead to extremely problematic phenotype (physical appearance & physiology), like disabilities or even death if it’s something like a developmental organ defect.

Promoting variations through sex ensures that the variations that are passed down are benign or beneficial, but especially not harmful. This works because in order for a variation to be passed on, the organism needs to:

1. Live to an age old enough to reproduce.

2. Be strong enough to live to that age (outlast predators, compete for resources, etc).

3. & be attractive to the opposite sex, meaning other organisms view them as strong & a viable surrogate for children.

It’s a bit paradoxical, but basically sex works as a fail safe for keeping shitty genes out of the gene pool bc anything that is too weak will die before it can reproduce, or at the very most they will have weak children who will die early.

As living things we need variation in order to stay alive as a species because our environment is constantly changing. If we never changed, something external (like a shortage of a particular plant or prey) could change, & wipe everyone out because they can’t find food.

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