Genetic villains: Killer meiotic drivers
Genetic villains: Killer meiotic drivers
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Genetic engineering, Selfish genetic elements, Toxin-antidote, Transmission distortionBravo Núñez, MAN, Nicole L.; Zanders, Sarah E., Trends in Genetics, 34:424-433. 2018.
Unbiased allele transmission into progeny is a fundamental genetic concept canonized as Mendel’s Law of Segregation. Not all alleles, however, abide by the law. Killer meiotic drivers are ultra-selfish DNA sequences that are transmitted into more than half (sometimes all) of the meiotic products generated by a heterozygote. As their name implies, these loci gain a transmission advantage in heterozygotes by destroying otherwise viable meiotic products that do not inherit the driver. We review and classify killer meiotic drive genes across a wide spectrum of eukaryotes. We discuss how analyses of these ultra-selfish genes can lead to greater insight into the mechanisms of gametogenesis and the causes of infertility.
