Frozen Evolution. Or, that’s not the way it is, Mr. Darwin. A Farewell to Selfish Gene.

A system enabling mutual recognition of members of a single species must be created in sexually reproducing organisms.This system can function, e.g., on the principle of a molecular key and lock (Maynard Smith & Szathmary 1995).Two types of receptors can act as keys and locks; these are located on the outer surface of cell membranes, exhibit mutual affinity and are capable of transferring the necessary signals to the interiors of the cells following mutual specific interactions.

            If both of these structures were to exist simultaneously on the surface of a single cell, their mutual bonding could also occur here.For cells with a dynamic surface creating structures of the pseudopod type, fusion of various parts of a single individual could occur in extreme cases.A simple evolutionary solution to such complications could be the formation of a regulation mechanism that ensures that only structures of the key type will be present on some cells and only “locks” on others.