Sex and Death in Protozoa

The History of Obsession
Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-0-521-05670-0
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 358 g

Is ageing inevitable, or can senescence and death be evaded? Large animals and plants always age if they live long enough; even individual cells from their bodies cannot continue living and dividing indefinitely. Whether or not single-celled organisms also age and die, and what relation sex bore to the process of senescence, was the subject of vigorous debate and experimentation early in the last century. In this book, Dr Bell disinters and reanalyzes these forgotten experiments, and argues that protozoan lineages do indeed senesce, as the result of an accumulated load of mutations that can be shed only through sexual reproduction. This unexpected connection between sex and death is the central theme of a book that will interest all students of evolutionary biology, sexuality and senescence.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bell, Graham

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Neurobiologie, Verhaltensbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Wirbellose (Invertebrata) Einzeller (Protozoen)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of illustrations; List of tables; Preface; 1. The question of protozoan immortality; 2. Sex and reproduction in ciliates and others; 3. Isolation cultures; 4. The fate of isolate cultures; 5. The culture environment; 6. Does sex rejuvenate?; 7. Germinal senescence in multicellular organisms; 8. The ratchet; 9. Soma and germ; 10. Mortality and immmortality in the germ line; 11. The function of sex; References; Index of first authors; Index of genera; Index of subjects.