Dear male reader: Just so you know, your sperm isn't that different from a sea anemone's. Sperm is so vital, a new study in PLoS Genetics found, that one of the genes responsible for it hasn't changed in 600 million years. Insects, humans, marine invertebrates, other mammals, even fish—the males of all these creatures share a common sperm gene that dates back to before all those animals diverged all those millions of years ago, according to the team led by Eugene Xu. From an evolutionary point of view, that longevity is simply stunning.
"It's really surprising because sperm production gets pounded by natural selection," Xu said. "It tends to change due to strong selective pressures for sperm-specific genes to evolve. There is extra pressure to be a super male to improve reproductive success. This is the one sex-specific element that didn't change across species. This must be so important that ...
