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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Data from: Virus epidemics can lead to a population-wide spread of intragenomic parasites in a previously parasite-free asexual population

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In a recent issue of Molecular Ecology the role of intragenomic parasites in maintaining sexual reproduction was both experimentally evaluated by Kraaijeveld et al. and discussed by Crespi and Schwander. The prevalence of sex is difficult to explain, due to its costs when compared with asexual reproduction. Yet, as reviewed by Crespi and Schwander, sex can be favorable in the presence of proliferating transposons. Transposons are similar to mutations, in that their integration to non-neutral loci is likely to have deleterious effects, and sexual recombination provides a potential mechanism to confine their accumulation.