Toxic Homo Fungus
The following tidbit, saved from an article I read some weeks ago, reinforces two well-known facts: 1) homosexuality is common in nature; 2) homosexuality can be toxic. The new spin on the old trick is that this time the guys (or gals) can have kids:
Same-sex mating found in toxic fungus
An infectious fungus has been found to defy the most basic tenet of sexual reproduction – that successful mating requires individuals of the opposite sex, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
In the April 21, 2005, issue of Nature, the researchers reported that, in the infectious fungus Cryptococcus neoformans, members of the same "sex" can mate and produce offspring. Infection with the fungus can prove life-threatening in humans, and the findings might improve understanding of the fungal biology that underlies the infectious process, the researchers said. Discovery of the same-sex mating might also help elucidate basic principles governing the evolution of sex, they said. …