Sexual
reproduction can be maintained only in an ever-changing world of diseases
generating a never-ending coevolutionary arms race between infectious diseases
and their hosts.
The polymorphic
Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) allows vertebrates including humans
to track changing parasites through olfactory mate choice for the partner that
offers the currently optimal complementary set of MHC alleles.
The extremely
high standing variation with more than 1000 different MHC alleles present also
in human populations offers ample opportunity for choice.
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