Signs of sex: what we know and how we know it

The predominance of sexual reproduction indicates that it must confer profound benefits, considering its significant costs relative to asexuality. However, definitively determining whether a lineage engages in sex is often complicated by the potential for cryptic sex, especially among unfamiliar organisms. Here we consider the strengths and weaknesses of various molecular- and organismal-based approaches for recognizing signs of sex and describe their applications and relevance to evolutionary biology. We review recent studies that use these methods; some analyses even dispute several ‘ancient’ asexual taxa, and suggest they are recently derived or might be covertly sexual. More broadly, a better understanding of which organisms have sex and how they do it will deepen our understanding of the distribution, maintenance and evolution of sexual reproduction.