Sex may have evolved as a way to fight disease

Sexual reproduction may have evolved because of disease-causing microbes. Researchers have been trying to answer the question of why sexual reproduction evolved when asexual reproduction - which doesn't require a partner - is much more efficient. Their theory is that sexual reproduction evolved because of the presence of disease, and the need to constantly evolve and adapt to resist these co-evolving pathogens. Sex allows the recombination of DNA between mating pairs of animals, and the offspring that are produced can carry more than one beneficial DNA mutation. Researchers at the University of Adelaide developed a computer simulation model which supports their theory.