Lessons from the Pond: Clues from Green Algae on the Origin of Males and Females

To trace the origin of the added genes, the team looked to see if they could also find them in Chlamydomonas. "We found that although some of the mating locus genes in Volvox are completely new, many of them have counterparts in Chlamydomonas that are near the mating locus," explains co-first author Bradley Olson, Ph.D. "So Volvox has taken these genes that initially had nothing to do with sex, incorporated them into its mating locus, and started using some of them in its sexual reproductive cycle."

The team is now studying these new mating locus genes to understand their individual roles in sex determination and sexual development.

Very interesting, indeed.