If evolution is "true" how did sexual reproduction originate?

Question

How did the first two sexually reproducing organisms obtain all of the abilities needed at the same time? Males and females would have had to evolve simultaneously while still reproducing to continue the survival of the species.

Just think about it okay... You have a species reproducing asexually, how likely is it that while reproducing asexually the same species turned into a male and a female while still constantly reproducing at the same time and how is it that simple organisms could come up with the idea to create reproductive organs in male and female and knowing they will work to reproduce?

Would someone like to explain?

Answer 1

It's a valid question. You are correct that the leap from complete asexual reproduction to complete sexual reproduction with dedicated "male" and "female" members is too big a leap.

But there are *many* intermediate stages. Most if not all of them are still in use in organisms today.

Asexual reproduction is very successful (the vast majority of life on the planet has long used it, and still uses it) but it has a limitation that slows evolution down ... its only source of new genetic material is mutation. Swapping genetic material with other individuals provides the advantage of making sure that every new offspring is slightly different ... which makes the organism much more reslliant over time to environmental pressures, and allows the organism to spread into *new* environments. This is why any slight move towards sexual reproduction has slight advantages in certain environments. I.e., it's not so much that sexual reproduction is *always* advantageous, but rather that those branches in evolution that come upon some form of swapping genes, eventually leading to full sexual reproduction (in all its intermediate forms) are *VERY* good at generating new species and expanding into new environments ... so we end up with a lot of species that have it.

There are many examples in nature of these intermediate stages. From one-celled organisms that occasionally swap genetic material before dividing; to those that do this regularly; to multi-celled organisms (like sponges) that reproduce by budding or by sporing (releasing single cells into the water); to organisms that reproduce both sexually and asexually (like aphids); to organisms that are strictly sexual reproducers but all individuals are both "male" and "female" (still the system used by the majority of flowering plants); to organisms that go through "male" and "female" phases at different times of development; to organisms where "male" and "female" is determined not genetically but by environment (like bees and ants); to full-time genetically-determined "males" and "females", which is the system used by all mammals and most (but not all) vertebrates. Many, many different variations.

>"Just think about it okay ..."

Trust me ... scientists *HAVE* thought about it. Thought about it a lot. There are papers and books on the subject (see "The Red Queen" by Matt Ridley). People with Ph.D. thesis on the development of one type of sexual reproduction or another.

So no asexually reproducing species had to suddenly come up with two sexes. Like everything else in evolution, it was a long, slow accumulation of tiny changes ... with those changes that provided some slight advantage getting passed on in bigger numbers.

I hope that answers your question.

Answer 2

Did you know that some bacteria reproduce sexually? They use pilli to transfer and swap genetic material with eachother.

There was no distinction between male and female, the arose after these bacteria evolved further. Perhaps a selection pressure made asexual reproduction impossible, or a mutated gene coded for the first sperm and egg cells in a single bacterium, which eventually became prominent in the entire population.

Over the course of time these genes became more complex and developed, eventually sexual dimorphism (male and female) arose and sexual reproduction refined.

Answer 3

I grow weary of people trying to disguise their dogmatic religious belief with some kind of scientific jargon in an attempt to give it greater feasibility. These must be the same people who believe the phrase "I don't know." is a sign of weakness. Hey folks, there are some things we may never understand or explain. This doesn't mean we're dumb, it just means we haven't discovered the necessary data to explain it. But there are always going to be those people who insist on believing that some deity had to be involved, and the natural order has to be under some kind of divine control. More is the pity, because I truly believe that the bane of humanity it our staunch and inhibiting belief that God controls everything. An easy excuse not to do what needs to be done, not to grow beyond our boundaries, and not to see the difference between religion and spirituality. I for example am very spiritual, but I do not believe in God. (By way of definition let me say God in the sense of an all powerful being that watches over us.) God as a concept, that is to say a creation of man, has to be believed in. Beyond that it should be up to the individual to believe or disbelieve at their leisure.

Answer 4

You just did, its evolution. Those asexual organisms developed over time into male and female.

Each generation of the species made a change, and eventually came into a male and female organism.

Answer 5

I believe in creation too, and consider the Big Bang as evidence of it. Creation of an entire universe from literally nothing implies a creator, doesn't it? Anyway...

Wikipedia mentions 4 theories to the origin of sexual reproduction, some of which are described by posters above - can I just cutnpaste?

"Origin of sexual reproduction
The most primitive organisms known to reproduce sexually are protists (primitive unicellular eukaryotes) such as those that cause malaria.

Organisms need to replicate their genetic material in an efficient and reliable manner. The necessity to repair genetic damage is one of the leading theories explaining the origin of sexual reproduction. Diploid individuals can repair a mutated section of its DNA via genetic recombination, since there are two copies of the gene in the cell and one copy is presumed to be undamaged. A mutation in an haploid individual, on the other hand, is more likely to become resident, as the DNA repair machinery has no way of knowing what the original undamaged sequence was.[18] The most primitive form of sex may have been one organism with damaged DNA replicating an undamaged strand from a similar organism in order to repair itself.[19]

Another theory is that sexual reproduction originated from selfish parasitic genetic elements that exchange genetic material (that is: copies of their own genome) for their transmission and propagation. In some organisms, sexual reproduction has been shown to enhance the spread of parasitic genetic elements (e.g.: yeast, filamentous fungi).[20] Bacterial conjugation, a form of genetic exchange that some sources describe as sex, is not a form of reproduction. However, it does support the selfish genetic element theory, as it is propagated through such a "selfish gene", the F-plasmid.[19]

A third theory is that sex evolved as a form of cannibalism. One primitive organism ate another one, but rather than completely digesting it, some of the 'eaten' organism's DNA was incorporated into the 'eater' organism.[19]

A comprehensive 'origin of sex as vaccination' theory proposes that eukaryan sex-as-syngamy (fusion sex) arose from prokaryan unilateral sex-as-infection when infected hosts began swapping nuclearized genomes containing coevolved, vertically transmitted symbionts that provided protection against horizontal superinfection by more virulent symbionts. Sex-as-meiosis (fission sex) then evolved as a host strategy to uncouple (and thereby emasculate) the acquired symbiont genomes."

Answer 6

ok....did u know that sexual reproduction was a part of evolution....the reason why living things evolved was due to variations,genetic mutations,recombinations,etc...but there was always sexual reproduction..

Answer 7

(no longer) very smart atheist - as quickly the 1st opposite intercourse ¨¨companions¨¨ more suitable (comes from the 1st actual cellular organisms)..polen in plant life that's a survival and duplicate instinct - stressful under pressure out into our DNA..first amino-acid cellular