The Tree of Sex consortium: a global initiative for studying the evolution of reproduction in eukaryotes
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Reproduction is a fundamental aspect of life that affects all levels of biology, from genomes and development to population dynamics and diversification. The first Tree of Sex database synthesized a vast diversity of reproductive strategies and their intriguing distribution throughout eukaryotes. A decade on, we are reviving this initiative and greatly expanding its scope to provide the most comprehensive integration of knowledge on eukaryotic reproduction to date. In this perspective, we first identify important gaps in our current knowledge of reproductive strategies across eukaryotes. We then highlight a selection of questions that will benefit most from this new Tree of Sex project, including those related to the evolution of sex, modes of sex determination, sex chromosomes, and the consequences of various reproductive strategies. Finally, we outline our vision for the new Tree of Sex database and the consortium that will create it (treeofsex.org). The new database will cover all Eukaryota and include a wide selection of biological traits. It will also incorporate genomic data types that were scarce or non-existent at the time of the first Tree of Sex initiative. The new database will be publicly accessible, stable, and self-sustaining, thus greatly improving the accessibility of reproductive knowledge to researchers across disciplines for years to come. Lastly, the consortium will persist after the database is created to serve as a collaborative framework for research, prioritizing ethical standards in the collection, use, and sharing of reproductive data. The new Tree of Sex consortium is open, and we encourage all who are interested in this topic to join us.
Source: Journal of Evolutionary Biology
DOI: 10.1093/jeb/voaf053
Authors: Daniel Jeffries, Chiara Benvenuto, Astrid Böhne, Christelle Fraïsse, Sònia Garcia, Paul Jay, Lukáš Kratochvíl, Caitlin E McDonough-Goldstein, Aurora Ruiz-Herrera, Cibele G Sotero-Caio, Nicole Valenzuela, Melissa A Wilson, Aleksandra Bliznina, Valentina Peona, Thomas Desvignes, Aparna Lajmi, Christina N Hodson, Yann Guiguen, Mónica Moura, Paul Jay, Tanja Slotte, Bjarte H Jordal, Michael A White, Philipp Schiffer, Maja Lazarević, Christopher G Wilson, Joana Isabel Meier, Joris M Koene, Christelle Fraisse, Mathias Scharmann, Bahadir Onsoy, Jun Kitano, Giulia Lin, Ann Kathrin Huylmans, Emmarie P Alexander, Caitlin E McDonough-Goldstein, Sara Calhim, Ashwini V Mohan, Shana Pau, Sophie Helen Smith, Cecile Molinier, Melissah Rowe, Leo W Beukeboom, Stephen I Wright, Matjaž Kuntner, John R Pannell, Ludovic Dutoit, Edina Nemesházi, Tony Gamble, Peter Szoevenyi, Petra Bulankova, Vratislav Peska, Caleb J Krueger, Astrid Böhne, Dragana Cvetković, Mércia Patrícia Pereira Silva, Thaís Elias Almeida, Frédéric Veyrunes, Agnieszka Lipinska, Veronika Bókony, Jana C Vamosi, Peter Glasnović, J Antonio Baeza, Melissa A Wilson, Tatiana Giraud, Cibele G Sotero-Caio, Stuart V Nielsen, Sònia Garcia, Richard Challis, Lukáš Kratochvíl, Luohao Xu, Marta Turon, Jie Wang, Deborah Charlesworth, Charlotte J Wright, Bozena Kolano, Brendan J Pinto, Giacomo Potente, Wagner Luiz dos Santos, Zoran Marčić, Clare E Holleley, Soleil E Young, Stuart F McDaniel, Lucija Andjel, Matthew W Hahn, Claudia C Weber, Fredric J Janzen, Lewis Stevens, Ahammad Kabir, Jennifer D Gresham, Paul A Saunders, Marine Arakelyan, Jiří Král, Duminda S B Dissanayake, Stacy A Krueger-Hadfield, Qi Zhou, Jonathan M D Wood, Catherine L Peichel, Karel Janko, Maria Immacolata Ferrante, Chiara Benvenuto, Michail Rovatsos, Andrew J Mongue, Máire Ní Leathlobhair, Jessica K Abbott, Jonna Kulmuni, Anna Torgasheva, Alexander Suh, David H Lunt, Susana M Coelho, Sam Ebdon, Alex Makunin, Melissa A Toups, Jens Bast, Quentin Helleu, Quentin Helleu, Tony Heitkam, Vladimir Trifonov, Sadye Paez, Rainer Melzer, Natalia Borowska-Zuchowska, Nicole Valenzuela, Daniela H Palmer Droguett, Rita Monteiro, Petr Nguyen, Kamil S Jaron, Daniel L Jeffries, Caroline Howard, Tanja Schwander, Kerstin Howe, Ravinder K Kanda, Arthur Georges, Wen-Juan Ma, Ore Francis, Mark Blaxter, Sarah P Otto, Roman Hobza, Louise D Heitzmann, Vasiliki Kousteni, Aurora Ruiz-Herrera, David Peris, James Umen, Cristiana Ramalho Maciel, Alexandr Sember, Ricardo Utsunomia, Yukako Katsura, Matthias Stöck, Simon Kershenbaum, Tymoteusz Pieszko, Vilma Loreto, Martha Mercy Mulongo, Kamil S Jaron
Institutions: University of Bern, University of Salford, Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Lille, Unité Évolution, Écologie et Paléontologie, Institut Botànic de Barcelona, University of Copenhagen, Charles University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Iowa State University, Arizona State University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,123
Funders: National Science Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, Human Frontier Science Program, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, National Institutes of Health, Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Awards: G1175115578, EDGE FGT: Development of fibroblasts and organoids as tools for functional genomics in turtles, applicable to other non-mammalian vertebrates, G1855990336, Ein Gradient der sexuellen Selektion und des sexuellen Konflikts: Elterliche Investition und Geschlechterrollenwechsel und ihre genetischen Einflüsse, G2262748287, G2309174360, G2449231669, G2660406951, G288263039, G300979063, G3235642775, G3480869486, G425668148, G430777504, G4379920741, G462535707, G5080475149, Wellcome Sanger Institute Quinquennial Review 2021-2026, G5421974903, G5805502524, G5852091828, G6063314223, NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: Male/female reversal and the ecological implications of plasticity in development, FITNESS: Forward-In-Time Natural Experimental Study of Selection, G7084143925, Mechanismen und Dynamiken der Geschlechtschromosomenevolution in afrikanischen Buntbarschen, Is hybridization the only way to asexuality in vertebrates?, G9000140763, G99296377
OpenAlex ID: W4410214684