Mechanisms of meiotic drive

Zimmering, SS, L.; Nicoletti, B.,  Annual Review of Genetics,  4:409-436. 1970.

Meiotic drive has been defined by Sandler & Novitski (157) as any alteration of the normal process of meiosis with the consequence that a heterozygote for two genetic alternatives produces an effective gametic pool with an excess of one type; such a pattern of behavior will drastically alter the frequency of alleles in a population in such a way that a driven allele may increase in frequency in spite of deleterious physiological effects. This general concept has, however, been taken to include transmissional anomalies that are not strictly meiotic, but with similar populational consequences [see, for example, Lewontin (93)]; this extended meaning seems justified and thus the more general definition will be used in this review.