Scholarly Literature
This is an aggregation of scholarly literature from peer-reviewed journals, bioRxiv , medRxiv and arXiv preprint servers focused on natural and engineered selfish genetic elements and genetic biocontrol. New citations are added as they appear. This content is intended for anyone interested in the scholarly literature on gene drive and genetic biocontrol.
Concept and history of genetic control
Tags: Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Fruit fly, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, History, Other Symbionts, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Scott, M. J. and Benedict, M. Q., Genetic Control of Malaria and Dengue, 2:31-54. 2016.
Genetic control of insects is an established method, mainly for insects that are important crop and veterinary pests such as medflies and screwworm. Efforts to use the same technologies against insects of medical importance, especially mosquitoes, have had limited success. The ...
National Academies hit the brakes on gene drive-modified organisms
Tags: Gene driveAbbasi, J., JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association, 316:482-483. 2016.
Despite their potential for fighting Zika, malaria, and other public health scourges, organisms that have been engineered to quickly spread genetic modifications through a population—and possibly an entire species—are not ready for release into the wild, a committee of ...
Invertebrate Biosecurity Challenges in High-Productivity Grassland: The New Zealand Example
Tags: Biological control, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Invasive species, Pest managementS. L. Goldson, B. I. P. Barratt and K. F. Armstrong, Frontiers in Plant Science, 7. 2016.
This review explores the unique challenges faced by pasture biosecurity and what may be done to confront existing difficulties. While there is no silver bullet, and limited opportunity pre and at for improving pasture biosecurity, advancement may include increased and informed ...
Mitonuclear interactions, mtDNA-mediated thermal plasticity, and implications for the Trojan Female Technique for pest control
Tags: Fruit fly, Genetic biocontrol, Sex distorterJ. N. Wolff, D. M. Tompkins, N. J. Gemmell and D. K. Dowling, Scientific Reports, 6. 2016.
Here we test whether the male-sterilizing effects previously associated with the mt: Cyt-b mutation are consistent across three thermal and three nuclear genomic contexts. The effects of this mutation were indeed moderated by the nuclear background and thermal environment, but ...
Prospects and challenges of CRISPR/Cas genome editing for the study and control of neglected vector-borne nematode diseases
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropodsM. Zamanian and E. C. Andersen, The FEBS Journal, 283:3204-3221. 2016.
Neglected tropical diseases caused by parasitic nematodes inflict an immense health and socioeconomic burden throughout much of the developing world. Current estimates indicate that more than two billion people are infected with nematodes, resulting in the loss of 14 million ...
Lethal Gene Drive Selects Inbreeding
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Replicator/site directed nuclease, ResistanceJ. J. Bull, bioRxiv, 046847. 2016.
ere, population genetic models are used to consider the evolution of inbreeding (specifically selfing) as a possible response to a recessively lethal HEG with complete segregation distortion. Numerical analyses indicate a rich set of outcomes, but selfing often evolves in ...
Mating competitiveness of sterile genetic sexing strain males (GAMA) under laboratory and semi-field conditions: Steps towards the use of the Sterile Insect Technique to control the major malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis in South Africa
Tags: Africa, Anopheles, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)G. Munhenga, B. D. Brooke, J. R. L. Gilles, K. Slabbert, A. Kemp, L. C. Dandalo, O. R. Wood, L. N. Lobb, D. Govender, M. Renke and L. L. Koekemoer, Parasites and Vectors, 9:122. 2016.
Anopheles arabiensis Patton is primarily responsible for malaria transmission in South Africa after successful suppression of other major vector species using indoor spraying of residual insecticides. Control of An. arabiensis using current insecticide based approaches is proving ...
Engineering the wild: Gene drives and intergenerational equity
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, RegulationJ. Kuzma and L. Rawls, Jurimetrics, 56:279-296. 2016.
New genetic engineering methods are allowing scientists to insert genes into organisms that have the potential to spread themselves throughout natural populations upon the release of individuals carrying those genes. Gene drive technology is being researched and developed for ...
Cheating evolution: engineering gene drives to manipulate the fate of wild populations
Tags: Aedes, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropods, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Sex distorterChamper, JB, A.; Akbari, O. S., Nature Reviews Genetics, 17:146-159. 2016.
Engineered gene drives - the process of stimulating the biased inheritance of specific genes - have the potential to enable the spread of desirable genes throughout wild populations or to suppress harmful species, and may be particularly useful for the control of vector-borne ...
No evidence for female discrimination against male house mice carrying a selfish genetic element
Tags: Evolution, Fruit fly, Gene drive mechanisms, Rodents, Transmission distortionSutter, AL, A. K., Current Zoology, 62:675-685. 2016.
Meiotic drivers distort transmission to the next generation in their favor, with detrimental effects on the fitness of their homologues and the rest of the genome. Male carriers of meiotic drivers commonly inflict costs on their mates through genetic incompatibility, reduced ...
Genome editing: intellectual property and product development in plant biotechnology
Tags: EthicsSchinkel, HS, S., Plant Cell Reports, 35:1487-1491. 2016.
Genome editing is a revolutionary technology in molecular biology. While scientists are fascinated with the unlimited possibilities provided by directed and controlled changes in DNA in eukaryotes and have eagerly adopted such tools for their own experiments, an understanding of ...
Marcus Rhoades on preferential segregation in maize
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, HistoryBirchler, JA, Genetics, 203:1489-1490. 2016.
Rhoades was studying a variant form of chromosome 10 with a conspicuous abnormality; it carried extensive heterochromatin at the tip of the long arm. This variant had been found by Albert Longley in indigenous maize varieties from the southwestern United States and provided to ...
Gene drive through a landscape: Reaction-diffusion models of population suppression and elimination by a sex ratio distorter
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropods, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Y-chromosomeBeaghton, AB, P. J.; Burt, A., Theoretical Population Biology, 108:51-69. 2016.
Some genes or gene complexes are transmitted from parents to offsprihg at a greater-than-Mendelian rate, and can spread and persist in populations even if they cause some harm to the individuals carrying them. Such genes may be useful for controlling populations or species that ...
Random and non-random mating populations: Evolutionary dynamics in meiotic drive
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive mechanisms, Transmission distortionSarkar, B, Mathematical Biosciences, 271:29-41. 2016.
Game theoretic tools are utilized to analyze a one-locus continuous selection model of sex-specific meiotic drive by considering nonequivalence of the viabilities of reciprocal heterozygotes that might be noticed at an imprinted locus. The model draws attention to the role of ...
Sexual antagonism and meiotic drive cause stable linkage disequilibrium and favour reduced recombination on the X chromosome
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive mechanisms, Transmission distortionRydzewski, WTC, S. A.; Lievano, G.; Lynch, V. D.; Patten, M. M., Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 29:1247-1256. 2016.
Sexual antagonism and meiotic drive are sex-specific evolutionary forces with the potential to shape genomic architecture. Previous theory has found that pairing two sexually antagonistic loci or combining sexual antagonism with meiotic drive at linked autosomal loci augments ...
Target Malaria has a killer in its sights: Eliminating the world’s deadliest disease has been a priority for decades, and, thanks to innovative gene-drive technology, Target Malaria is getting closer to achieving that goal
Tags: Gene drive syntheticBanks, J, IEEE Pulse, 7:30-33. 2016.
The mosquito is the deadliest animal in the world (Figure 1). It is the main carrier of parasites that cause malaria, which is a bigger killer than any other disease in history; in fact, some blame malaria for the deaths of half the humans who have ever lived. Today, malaria ...
Genetic engineering to eradicate invasive mice on islands: modeling the efficiency and ecological impacts
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Other mammalsBackus, GAG, K., Ecosphere, 7:e01589. 2016.
Invasive rodents are usually eradicated from islands through the application of chemical toxicants that can harm surrounding ecosystems. A recently proposed alternative involves engineering a house mouse (Mus musculus) to carry a genetic construct that would cause a majority of ...
Intragenomic conflict produces sex ratio dynamics that favor maternal sex ratio distorters
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive, Transmission distortion, X chromosomeRood, ESF, S., Ecology and Evolution, 6:8085-8093. 2016.
Maternal sex ratio distorters (MSDs) are selfish elements that enhance their transmission by biasing their host's sex allocation in favor of females. While previous models have predicted that the female-biased populations resulting from sex ratio distortion can benefit from ...
A meiotic drive element in the maize pathogen Fusarium verticillioides is located within a 102 kb region of chromosome V
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive, Gene drive mechanisms, Transmission distortionPyle, JP, T.; Merrill, B.; Nsokoshi, C.; McCall, M.; Proctor, R. H.; Brown, D. W.; Hammond, T. M., G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 6:2543-2552. 2016.
Fusarium verticillioides is an agriculturally important fungus because of its association with maize and its propensity to contaminate grain with toxic compounds. Some isolates of the fungus harbor a meiotic drive element known as Spore killer (Sk(K)) that causes nearly all ...
Selfish genetic elements and the gene’s-eye view of evolution
Tags: HistoryÅgren, JA, Current Zoology, 62:659-665. 2016.
During the last few decades, we have seen an explosion in the influx of details about the biology of selfish genetic elements. Ever since the early days of the field, the gene’s-eye view of Richard Dawkins, George Williams, and others, has been instrumental to make sense of new ...
Control of mosquito-borne infectious diseases: Sex and gene drive
Adelman, ZNT, Z. J., Trends in Parasitology, 32:219-229. 2016.Sterile male releases have successfully reduced local populations of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, but challenges remain in scale and in separating sexes before release. The recent discovery of the first mosquito male determining factor (M factor) will facilitate our ...
Driven to extinction? The ethics of eradicating mosquitoes with gene-drive technologies
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Other arthropodsPugh, J, Journal of Medical Ethics, 42:578-581. 2016.
Mosquito-borne diseases represent a significant global disease burden, and recent outbreaks of such diseases have led to calls to reduce mosquito populations. Furthermore, advances in gene-drive' technology have raised the prospect of eradicating certain species of mosquito via ...
Occasional recombination of a selfish X-chromosome may permit its persistence at high frequencies in the wild
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive mechanisms, Other arthropods, Toxin-antidote, X chromosomePieper, KED, K. A., Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 29:2229-2241. 2016.
The sex-ratio X-chromosome (SR) is a selfish chromosome that promotes its own transmission to the next generation by destroying Y-bearing sperm in the testes of carrier males. In some natural populations of the fly Drosophila neotestacea, up to 30% of the X-chromosomes are SR ...
Gene silencing and gene drive in dengue vector control
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Mosquitoes, Other arthropodsPaulraj, MGI, S.; Reegan, A. D., Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources, 7:193-200. 2016.
Vector-borne diseases are the most feared diseases throughout the world. Mosquitoes are the prime human disease vectors as they are responsible for nearly one million human deaths every year. So they are declared as the most dangerous insects to mankind. Aedes aegypti and Ae. ...
Comparative analysis of regions with distorted segregation in three diploid populations of potato
Tags: Ecology, Gene drive mechanisms, Transmission distortionManrique-Carpintero, NCC, J. J.; Veilleux, R. E.; Buell, C. R.; Douches, D. S., G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 6:2617-2628. 2016.
Genes associated with gametic and zygotic selection could underlie segregation distortion, observed as alterations of expected Mendelian genotypic frequencies in mapping populations. We studied highly dense genetic maps based on single nucleotide polymorphisms to elucidate the ...
The evolutionary consequences of selfish genetic elements
Lindholm, AKP, T. A. R., Current Zoology, 62:655-658. 2016.The traditional view of the genome was once that it is broadly cooperative, with all genes working together amicably to improve the success of the individual as a whole. Benefits to the individual, after all, benefit all the component genes, as fair Mendelian inheritance ensures ...
The Ecology and Evolutionary Dynamics of Meiotic Drive
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Transmission distortionLindholm, AKD, K. A.; Firman, R. C.; Fishman, L.; Forstmeier, W.; Holman, L.; Johannesson, H.; Knief, U.; Kokko, H.; Larracuente, A. M.; Manser, A.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.; Petrosyan, V. G.; Pomiankowski, A.; Presgraves, D. C.; Safronova, L. D.; Sutter, A.; Unckless, R. L.; Verspoor, R. L.; Wedell, N.; Wilkinson, G. S.; Price, T. A. R., Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 31:315-326. 2016.
Meiotic drivers are genetic variants that selfishly manipulate the production of gametes to increase their own rate of transmission, often to the detriment of the rest of the genome and the individual that carries them. This genomic conflict potentially occurs whenever a diploid ...
Stability of underdominant genetic polymorphisms in population networks
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, UnderdominanceLaruson, AJR, F. A., Journal of Theoretical Biology, 390:156-163. 2016.
Heterozygote disadvantage is potentially a potent driver of population genetic divergence. Also referred to as underdominance, this phenomena describes a situation where a genetic heterozygote has a lower overall fitness than either homozygote. Attention so far has mostly been ...
Pollen killer gene S35 function requires interaction with an activator that maps close to S24, another pollen killer gene in rice
Tags: Gene drive mechanismsKubo, TY, A.; Kurata, N., G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 6:1459-1468. 2016.
Pollen killer genes disable noncarrier pollens, and are responsible for male sterility and segregation distortion in hybrid populations of distantly related plant species. The genetic networks and the molecular mechanisms underlying the pollen killer system remain largely ...
Mechanisms of sex determination and transmission ratio distortion in Aedes aegypti
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropods, Y-chromosomeHoang, KPT, T. M.; Ho, T. X.; Le, V. S., Parasites & Vectors, 9:49. 2016.
: More effective mosquito control strategies are urgently required due to the increasing prevalence of insecticide resistance. The sterile insect technique (SIT) and the release of insects carrying a dominant lethal allele (RIDL) are two proposed methods for ...
Rapid evolution of a Y-chromosome heterochromatin protein underlies sex chromosome meiotic drive
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Gene drive mechanisms, Other arthropods, Transmission distortion, X chromosomeHelleu, QG, P. R.; Dubruille, R.; Ogereau, D.; Prud'homme, B.; Loppin, B.; Montchamp-Moreau, C., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113:4110-4115. 2016.
Sex chromosome meiotic drive, the non-Mendelian transmission of sex chromosomes, is the expression of an intragenomic conflict that can have extreme evolutionary consequences. However, the molecular bases of such conflicts remain poorly understood. Here, we show that a young and ...
A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system-targeting female reproduction in the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropodsHammond, AG, R.; Kyrou, K.; Simoni, A.; Siniscalchi, C.; Katsanos, D.; Gribble, M.; Baker, D.; Marois, E.; Russell, S.; Burt, A.; Windbichler, N.; Crisanti, A.; Nolan, T., Nature Biotechnology, 34:78-83. 2016.
Gene drive systems that enable super-Mendelian inheritance of a transgene have the potential to modify insect populations over a timeframe of a few years. We describe CRISPR-Cas9 endonuclease constructs that function as gene drive systems in Anopheles gambiae, the main vector for ...
Cas9-triggered chain ablation of cas9 as a gene drive brake
Tags: Fruit fly, Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Risk and safetyWu, BL, L. Q.; Gao, X. J. J., Nature Biotechnology, 34:137-138. 2016.
We designed and synthesized a transgene system that we named Cas9-triggered chain ablation (CATCHA). The CATCHA transgene encodes a guide RNA (gRNA) that is expressed ubiquitously from a U6:2 promoter. The gRNA targets a site within the DNA sequence of cas9. The guide RNA is ...
Putting the brakes on CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive systems
Tags: Gene drive syntheticGraham, DM, Lab Animal, 45:47-47. 2016.
The sudden emergence and worldwide adoption of CRISPR gene-editing technology confronts humanity with unprecedented opportunities and choices. CRISPR's transformative impact on our future understanding of biology, along with its potential to unleash control over the most ...
The ability to gain matings, not sperm competition, reduces the success of males carrying a selfish genetic element in a fly
Tags: Evolution, Transmission distortion, X chromosomeVerspoor, RLH, G. D. D.; Price, T. A. R., Animal Behaviour, 115:207-215. 2016.
Females are expected to avoid low-quality males fathering their offspring. X chromosome meiotic drive (XCMD) makes males very low-quality mates. XCMDs are X chromosomes that, in males, cause the failure of all Y chromosome sperm, so all functional sperm carry the driving X and ...
The dawn of active genetics
Tags: Birds, Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropods, Other mammals, Transmission distortionGantz, VMB, E., Bioessays, 38:50-63. 2016.
On December 18, 2014, a yellow female fly quietly emerged from her pupal case. What made her unique was that she had only one parent carrying a mutant allele of this classic recessive locus. Then, one generation later, after mating with a wild-type male, all her offspring ...
Meiotic drive changes sperm precedence patterns in house mice: potential for male alternative mating tactics?
Tags: Evolution, Fruit fly, Gene drive mechanisms, Population genetics/dynamics, Rodents, Selfish genetic elements, Sex distorter, Transmission distortionSutter, AL, A. K., BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16:15. 2016.
Background: With female multiple mating (polyandry), male-male competition extends to after copulation (sperm competition). Males respond to this selective pressure through physiological, morphological and behavioural adaptations. Sperm competitiveness is commonly decreased in ...
R2d2 drives selfish sweeps in the house mouse
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Gene drive, Gene drive mechanisms, Rodents, Transmission distortionDidion, JPM, A. P.; Yadgary, L.; Bell, T. A.; McMullan, R. C.; de Solorzano, L. O.; Britton-Davidian, J.; Bult, C. J.; Campbell, K. J.; Castiglia, R.; Ching, Y. H.; Chunco, A. J.; Crowley, J. J.; Chesler, E. J.; Forster, D. W.; French, J. E.; Gabriel, S. I.; Gatti, D. M.; Garland, T.; Giagia-Athanasopoulou, E. B.; Gimenez, M. D.; Grize, S. A.; Gunduz, I.; Holmes, A.; Hauffe, H. C.; Herman, J. S.; Holt, J. M.; Hua, K. J.; Jolley, W. J.; Lindholm, A. K.; Lopez-Fuster, M. J.; Mitsainas, G.; Mathias, M. D.; McMillan, L.; Ramalhinho, M. D. M.; Rehermann, B.; Rosshart, S. P.; Searle, J. B.; Shiao, M. S.; Solano, E.; Svenson, K. L.; Thomas-Laemont, P.; Threadgill, D. W.; Ventura, J.; Weinstock, G. M.; Pomp, D.; Churchill, G. A.; de Villena, F. P. M., Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33:1381-1395. 2016.
A selective sweep is the result of strong positive selection driving newly occurring or standing genetic variants to fixation, and can dramatically alter the pattern and distribution of allelic diversity in a population. Population-level sequencing data have enabled discoveries ...
Production of a YY Male Brook Trout Broodstock for Potential Eradication of Undesired Brook Trout Populations
Tags: Fish, Genetic biocontrol, Sex distorterD. J. Schill, J. A. Heindel, M. R. Campbell, K. A. Meyer and E. Mamer, North American Journal of Aquaculture, 78:72-83. 2015.
Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis introduced outside of their native range often negatively impact native aquatic fauna or provide marginal fisheries and are frequently targeted for manual or piscicide removal in lakes and streams. Unfortunately, complete eradication of exotic ...
Stochastic models for the Trojan Y-Chromosome eradication strategy of an invasive species
Tags: Fish, Genetic biocontrol, Invasive species, Modeling, Sex distorterX. Y. Wang, J. R. Walton and R. D. Parshad, Journal of Biological Dynamics, 10:179-199. 2015.
The Trojan Y-Chromosome (TYC) strategy, an autocidal genetic bio-control method, has been proposed to eliminate invasive alien species. In this work, we develop a Markov jump process model for this strategy, and we verify that there is a positive probability for wild-type females ...
The effect of malaria control on Plasmodium falciparum in Africa between 2000 and 2015
Tags: MalariaS. Bhatt, D. J. Weiss, E. Cameron, D. Bisanzio, B. Mappin, U. Dalrymple, K. E. Battle, C. L. Moyes, A. Henry, P. A. Eckhoff, E. A. Wenger, O. Briët, M. A. Penny, T. A. Smith, A. Bennett, J. Yukich, T. P. Eisele, J. T. Griffin, C. A. Fergus, M. Lynch, F. L, Nature, 526:207-211. 2015.
Since the year 2000, a concerted campaign against malaria has led to unprecedented levels of intervention coverage across sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding the effect of this control effort is vital to inform future control planning. H
The Trojan Female Technique for pest control: a candidate mitochondrial mutation confers low male fertility across diverse nuclear backgrounds in Drosophila melanogaster
Tags: Evolution, Genetic biocontrol, Genomics, Mosquito husbandry, Pest management, Rodents, Sex distorter, Sterile insect technique (SIT)D. K. Dowling, D. M. Tompkins and N. J. Gemmell, Evolutionary Applications, 8:8710880. 2015.
The Trojan Female Technique (TFT) was recently proposed as a prospective approach to biological pest control. However, applicability of the TFT relies on mitochondrial mutations whose male-sterilizing effects are general across nuclear genomic contexts. We test this assumption, ...
Back to the future: the sterile insect technique against mosquito disease vectors
Tags: Aedes, Anopheles, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)R. S. Lees, J. R. L. Gilles, J. Hendrichs, M. J. B. Vreysen and K. Bourtzis, Current Opinion in Insect Science, 10:156-162. 2015.
With the global burden of mosquito-borne diseases increasing, and some conventional vector control tools losing effectiveness, the sterile insect technique (SIT) is a potential new tool in the arsenal. Equipment and protocols have been developed and validated for efficient ...
Ecological and evolutionary applications for environmental sex reversal of fish
Tags: Biological control, Fish, Genetic biocontrol, Population suppression, Sex distorterA. McNair, P. M. Lokman, G. P. Closs and S. Nakagawa, Quarterly Review of Biology, 90:23-44. 2015.
Environmental sex reversal (ESR), which results in a mismatch between genotypic and phenotypic sex, is well documented in numerous fish species and may be induced by chemical exposure. Historically, research involving piscine ESR has been carried out with a view to improving ...
Gene drive turns mosquitoes into malaria fighters
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive syntheticPennisi, E, Science, 350:1014-1014. 2015.
The war against malaria has a new ally: a controversial technology for spreading genes throughout a population of animals. In the laboratory, researchers have harnessed a so-called gene drive to efficiently endow mosquitoes with genes that make them immune to the malaria ...
Female house mice avoid fertilization by t haplotype incompatible males in a mate choice experiment
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Fruit flyManser, AK, B.; Lindholm, A. K., Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 28:54-64. 2015.
The t haplotype in house mice is a well-known selfish genetic element with detrimental, nonadditive fitness consequences to its carriers: recessive lethal mutations cause t/t homozygotes to perish in utero. Given the severe genetic incompatibility imposed by the t haplotype, we ...
Can systematic reviews inform GMO risk assessment and risk management?
Tags: Policy, Regulation, Risk and safety, Risk assessmentKohl, CF, G.; Sweet, J.; Spok, A.; Haddaway, N.R.; Wilhelm, R.; Unger, S.; Schiemann, J., Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 3:113. 2015.
Systematic reviews represent powerful tools to identify, collect, synthesize, and evaluate primary research data on specific research questions in a highly standardized and reproducible manner. They enable the defensible synthesis of outcomes by increasing precision and ...
A prezygotic transmission distorter acting equally in female and male zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata
Tags: Birds, Gene drive mechanismsKnief, US, H.; Ellegren, H.; Kempenaers, B.; Forstmeier, W., Molecular Ecology, 24:3846-3859. 2015.
The two parental alleles at a specific locus are usually inherited with equal probability to the offspring. However, at least three processes can lead to an apparent departure from fair segregation: early viability selection, biased gene conversion and various kinds of ...
Double trouble: combined action of meiotic drive and Wolbachia feminization in Eurema butterflies
Tags: Other arthropods, Transmission distortionKern, PC, J. M.; Kageyama, D.; Riegler, M., Biology Letters, 11:20150095. 2015.
Arthropod sex ratios can be manipulated by a diverse range of selfish genetic elements, including maternally inherited Wolbachia bacteria. Feminization by Wolbachia is rare but has been described for Eurema mandarina butterflies. In this species, some phenotypic and functional ...
Coevolutionary dynamics of polyandry and sex-linked meiotic drive
Tags: Evolution, Y-chromosomeHolman, LP, T. A. R.; Wedell, N.; Kokko, H., Evolution, 69:709-720. 2015.
Segregation distorters located on sex chromosomes are predicted to sweep to fixation and cause extinction via a shortage of one sex, but in nature they are often found at low, stable frequencies. One potential resolution to this longstanding puzzle involves female multiple mating ...
