Sex and Death in Protozoa: The History of an Obsession

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. First edition.

DO PROTOZOA GROW OLD AND IS SEX A REJUVENATING PROCESS?

15 x 23 cm hardcover, orange cloth binding, gilt title to cover and spine, institutional library bookplate and handstamp to front paste-down, embossed library stamp to edge of title page, library date due slip to back flyleaf, i-xiv, 199 pp, 59 illustrations in text. Light soiling to cover edges, other than internal library marks noted, text is clean and binding tight. Very good minus in custom archival mylar cover.

GRAHAM ARTHUR CHARLTON BELL (born 1949) is a British evolutionary biologist with interests in the evolution of sexual reproduction and the maintenance of variation. In 1976, he joined the faculty of McGill University as a temporary lecturer. He was appointed a Professor in 1989. In 1992, he was appointed Molson Chair of Genetics. He was Director of the Redpath Museum from 1995 to 2005. He developed the "tangled bank" theory of evolutionary genetics after observing the asexual and sexual behavior patterns of aphids as well as monogonont rotifers. Bell was a co-founder and founding President of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution. This is the first detailed treatment of the long-standing, previously unresolved controversy surrounding the nature of senescence in clonal cultures. Part historical review of the literature, part detective story, Sex and Death in Protozoa presents a comprehensive but entertaining discussion of the sometimes contradictory evidence for protozoan senescence and the rejuvenating effects of sex in these organisms. Drawing on Hermann Muller's "ratchet model," Dr. Bell demonstrates in a quantitative fashion how genetic recombination (an intrinsic part of the sexual process) can eliminate the deleterious effects of accumulated mutations in clonal cultures and provide the rejuvenating effects associated with mating. This well written account by one of the leading authorities in the field is indispensable reading for those interested in the genetics and cell biology of protozoa, and more generally, those researchers and students interested in the phenomenon of senescence.