Drive, suppression, and escape from suppression of a selfish chromosome
Drive, suppression, and escape from suppression of a selfish chromosome
Tags: Fruit fly, Selfish genetic elementsJackson Taylor Ridges, Jackson Bladen, Robert L. Unckless, Nitin Phadnis, bioRxiv, 2025.
Meiotic drivers are selfish chromosomes that are predicted to spark a rapid intragenomic arms-race with their suppressors. However, the long-term persistence of unsuppressed selfish chromosomes in natural populations violates these theoretical expectations. The Drosophila pseudoobscura Sex-Ratio (SR) chromosome exemplifies this problem, sometimes referred to as the ancient gene drive paradox. Here, we reconstruct the evolutionary history of this SR chromosome and show that its genetic architecture and complexity has been shaped by a history of drive, suppression, and escape from suppression. Our results indicate that the current lack of resistance to the SR chromosome represents a transient condition awaiting the emergence of new suppressors.
