The evolutionary significance of meiotic drive

In this essay, we will focus on ‘true meiotic drive’ where the distorted transmission does arise within meiosis itself (Zanders and Unckless2019),specifically in females. Here, the non-transmission of one of the products of meiotic division is inherent in the gametogenic process—with the formation of a polar body as the functionless by-product of division, with the egg continuing on as the viable entity. The meiotic drive is therefore the biased segregation in favour of one type of allele such that it is most commonly retained in the egg at the cost of the other type of allele, which most commonly ends up in the polar body. The biased segregation can occur at either the first or second division of meiosis—both of which generate a functionless polar body, such that there is ultimately only one viable product of the two divisions—the final version of the egg, which then becomes a zygote on fertilisation.

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