mixis, n. Biol.
(ˈmɪksɪs)
[a. G. Mixis, a. Gr. µίξις mixing, (sexual) intercourse.]
Reproduction involving the fusion of gametes and (with some writers) the alternation of nuclear phases.
| 1944 Hereditas XXX. 146 The processes given the names amixis, mixis and apomixis by Winkler. 1950 Adv. Genetics III. 194 In plants we speak of mictic reproduction, its opposite being named apomixis, which means reproduction without mixis, i.e. without both the fusion of two reproductive cells and adjoining alternation of nuclear phases. 1985 Marine Biol. LXXXV. 123 Results suggest that salinity conditions leading to optimal parthenogenic reproduction also support mixis. 1987 Nature 22 Jan. 307/2 The fusion of similar eukaryotic cells (mixis) probably evolved from cannibalism, because it paid to retain the DNA of an ingested relative, rather than to digest it. Ibid., A regular haplo-diploid cycle, with alternate mixis and meiosis, evolved as an adaptation to a cyclical environment. |