Data from: Virus epidemics can lead to a population-wide spread of intragenomic parasites in a previously parasite-free asexual population

In a recent issue of Molecular Ecology the role of intragenomic parasites
in maintaining sexual reproduction was both experimentally evaluated by
Kraaijeveld et al. and discussed by Crespi and Schwander. The prevalence
of sex is difficult to explain, due to its costs when compared with
asexual reproduction. Yet, as reviewed by Crespi and Schwander, sex can be
favorable in the presence of proliferating transposons. Transposons are
similar to mutations, in that their integration to non-neutral loci is
likely to have deleterious effects, and sexual recombination provides a
potential mechanism to confine their accumulation.