When two singles decides to move in together in a new apartment they usually have to decide who's stuff goes were. Who's TV are we going to use, who's dinner table and so on. Some of the stuff got to go to the landfill. Two hard heads may never be able to decide, they just love their stuff too much.
Funny thing is that solving that problem may just have been the cause of it! Bear with me, that sentence will clear up in a moment.
The first cells with cytoplasmic genes(genes not in the nucleus), had to solve exactly this problem,who's mitochondria are we going to use when we merge. Both cells are very eager to share and recombine their nucleus but what to do with the stuff that comes along.
The solution to this problem may very well be the introduction of gender. The female brings the cytoplasmic genes and the male has to ditch his. This is very plausible because there is a huge cost for having two or more genders. Having several genders means that you have to find a suitable partner when you want to have kids. Just mating with anyone would sure be easier. From an evolutionary perspective gender makes it harder to pass on the genes. There must be a huge benefit, and that may very well be the ability to have symbionts inside the cell.
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