Keywords: Gene drive mechanisms

Parental-effect gene-drive elements under partial selfing, or why do Caenorhabditis genomes have hyperdivergent regions?

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Matthew V Rockman,  Genetics,  2024.
Self-fertile Caenorhabditis nematodes carry a surprising number of Medea elements, alleles that act in heterozygous mothers and cause death or developmental delay in offspring that don’t inherit them. At some loci, both alleles in a cross operate as independent Medeas, ...

A viral gene drive could offer a new approach to fighting herpes

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Meghan Rosen,  ScienceNews,  2024.
The words “herpes” and “spread” in the same sentence don’t typically spell good news. Unless, that is, you’re talking about a busybody new virus. That virus includes designer DNA called a gene drive that spreads from one herpes simplex virus to another. And it may be ...

Experimental demonstration of tethered gene drive systems for confined population modification or suppression

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M. Metzloff, E. Yang, S. Dhole, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer,  bioRxiv,  2021.05.29.446308. 2021.
Tethered drive systems, in which a locally confined gene drive provides the CRISPR nuclease needed for a homing drive, could provide a solution to this problem, offering the power of a homing drive and confinement of the supporting drive. Here, we demonstrate the engineering of a ...

Split versions of Cleave and Rescue selfish genetic elements for measured self limiting gene drive

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G. Oberhofer, T. Ivy and B. A. Hay,  PLoS genetics,  17:e1009385. 2021.
Self-sustaining Cleave and Rescue (ClvR) elements include a DNA sequence-modifying enzyme such as Cas9/gRNAs that disrupts endogenous versions of an essential gene, a tightly linked recoded version of the essential gene resistant to cleavage (the Rescue), and a Cargo. ClvR ...

Suppression gene drive in continuous space can result in unstable persistence of both drive and wild-type alleles

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J. Champer, I. K. Kim, S. E. Champer, A. G. Clark and P. W. Messer,  Mol Ecol,  2021.
Using spatially explicit simulations, we show that the release of a suppression drive can result in what we term "chasing" dynamics, in which wild-type individuals recolonize areas where the drive locally eliminated the population. Despite the drive subsequently reconquering ...

Gene Drives across engineered fitness valleys: Modeling a design to prevent drive spillover.

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F. J. H. de Haas and S. Otto,  bioRxiv,  2020.10.29.360404. 2020.
We model a proposed drive system that transitions in time from a low threshold drive system (homing-based gene drive) to a high threshold drive system (underdominance) using daisy chain technology. This combination leads to a spatially restricted drive strategy while maintaining ...

MGDrivE 2: A simulation framework for gene drive systems incorporating seasonality and epidemiological dynamics

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S. L. Wu, J. B. Bennett, H. M. Sanchez C, A. J. Dolgert, T. M. Leon and J. M. Marshall,  bioRxiv,  2020.10.16.343376. 2020.
We present MGDrivE 2 (Mosquito Gene Drive Explorer 2): an extension of and development from the MGDrivE 1 simulation framework that investigates the population dynamics of a variety of gene drive architectures and their spread through spatially-explicit mosquito populations.

The potential for a CRISPR gene drive to eradicate or suppress globally invasive social wasps

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P. J. Lester, M. Bulgarella, J. W. Baty, P. K. Dearden, J. Guhlin and J. M. Kean,  Scientific Reports,  10:12398. 2020.
P. J. Lester, M. Bulgarella, J. W. Baty, P. K. Dearden, J. Guhlin and J. M. Kean (2020). Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-69259-6 Gene drives have potential for widespread and cost-efficient pest control, but are highly controversial. We examined a potential gene ...

Analysis of a Strong Suppressor of Segregation Distorter inDrosophila melanogaster

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R. G. Temin,  Genetics,  215:1085-1105. 2020.
These studies highlight the polygenic nature of distortion and its dependence on a constellation of positive and negative modifiers, provide insight into the stability of Mendelian transmission in natural populations even when a drive system arises, and pave the way for molecular ...

Malaria mosquitoes eliminated in lab by creating all male populations

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H. Dunning,  Imperial College London,  2020.
A team led by Imperial College London spread a genetic modification that distorts the sex ratio through a population of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using ‘gene drive’ technology.

Genetic variation not an obstacle to gene drive strategy to control mosquitoes

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University of California Davis,  ScienceDaily,  2020.
New research from entomologists at UC Davis clears a potential obstacle to using CRISPR-Cas9 "gene drive" technology to control mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and Zika.

Experimental manipulation of selfish genetic elements links genes to microbial community function

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S. D. Quistad, G. Doulcier and P. B. Rainey,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  375:12. 2020.
Microbial communities underpin the Earth's biological and geochemical processes, but their complexity hampers understanding. Motivated by the challenge of diversity and the need to forge ways of capturing dynamical behaviour connecting genes to function, biologically independent ...

Anti-CRISPR protein applications: natural brakes for CRISPR-Cas technologies

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Marino, N. D., Pinilla-Redondo, R. , Csorgo, B., Bondy-Denomy, J.,  Nature Methods,  2020.
Clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) genes, a diverse family of prokaryotic adaptive immune systems, have emerged as a biotechnological tool and therapeutic. The discovery of protein inhibitors of CRISPR-Cas systems, ...

The Buzz About Genetically Modified Mosquitoes – a podcast

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The Scientist Creative Services Team,  The Scientist,  podcast. 2020.
Mosquito-borne diseases afflict a large portion of the world. In this month’s episode, we consider genetic methods to eradicate diseases such as Zika fever, Dengue fever, and malaria. We spoke with Omar Akbari, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of ...

Vector genetics, insecticide resistance and gene drives: an agent-based modeling approach to evaluate malaria transmission and elimination

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P. Selvaraj, E. A. Wenger, D. Bridenbecker, N. Windbichler, J. R. Russell, J. Gerardin, C. A. Bever and M. Nikolov,  bioRxiv,  2020.01.27.920421. 2020.
Vector control has been a key component in the fight against malaria for decades, and chemical insecticides are critical to the success of vector control programs worldwide. However, increasing resistance to insecticides threatens to undermine these efforts. Understanding the ...

A transcomplementing gene drive provides a flexible platform for laboratory investigation and potential field deployment

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V. López Del Amo, A. L. Bishop, H. M. Sánchez C, J. B. Bennett, X. Feng, J. M. Marshall, E. Bier and V. M. Gantz,  Nature Communications,  11:352. 2020.
CRISPR-based gene drives can spread through wild populations by biasing their own transmission above the 50% value predicted by Mendelian inheritance. These technologies offer population-engineering solutions for combating vector-borne diseases, managing crop pests, and ...

Mathematical modeling of self-contained CRISPR gene drive reversal systems

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M. G. Heffel and G. C. Finnigan,  Scientific Reports,  9:20050. 2019.
There is a critical need for further research into methods to control biological populations. Numerous challenges to agriculture, ecological systems, and human health could be mitigated by the targeted reduction and management of key species (e.g. pests, parasites, and vectors ...

Experimental population modification of the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles stephensi

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T. B. Pham, C. H. Phong, J. B. Bennett, K. Hwang, N. Jasinskiene, K. Parker, D. Stillinger, J. M. Marshall, R. Carballar-Lejarazú and A. A. James,  PLOS Genetics,  15:e1008440. 2019.
The experimental introduction of manipulated genes into insect species has a long history in basic genetics. Recent advances in genome editing technologies have spurred considerable effort to exploit these methodologies to provide genetic solutions to some of the worst medical ...

Gene drive: progress and prospects

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Wedell, N., T. A. R. Price and A. K. Lindholm,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  286:20192709. 2019.
Gene drive is a naturally occurring phenomenon in which selfish genetic elements manipulate gametogenesis and reproduction to increase their own transmission to the next generation. Currently, there is great excitement about the potential of harnessing such systems to control ...

The potential for a released autosomal X-shredder becoming a driving-Y chromosome and invasively suppressing wild populations of malaria mosquitoes

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Alcalay, Y., S. Fuchs, R. Galizi, F. Bernardini, R. E. Haghighat-Khah, D. B. Rusch, J. R. Adrion, M. W. Hahn, P. Tortosa and P. A. Papathanos,  bioRxiv,  2019:860551. 2019.
Synthetic sex-ratio distorters based on X-chromosome shredding are predicted to be more efficient than sterile males for population suppression of malaria mosquitoes using genetic control. X chromosome shredding operates through the targeted elimination of X-chromosome-bearing ...

Disrupting female flight in the vector Aedes aegypti

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O'Leary, S. and Z. N. Adelman,  bioRxiv,  862300:862300. 2019.
Aedes aegypti is a vector of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Current vector control strategies such as community engagement, source reduction, and insecticides have not been sufficient to prevent viral outbreaks. Thus, interest in novel strategies involving genetic ...

Identification and characterisation of a Masculinizer homolog in the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella

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Harvey-Samuel, T., V. C. Norman, R. Carter, E. Lovett and L. Alphey,  Insect Molecular Biology,  2019:2019. 2019.
Recently, a novel sex-determination system was identified in the silkworm (Bombyx mori) in which a piRNA encoded on the female-specific W chromosome silences a Z-linked gene (Masculinizer) which would otherwise initiate male sex-determination and dosage compensation. ...

Genetic Control of Mosquitoes

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Alphey, L.,  Annual Review of Entomology,  59:205-224. 2019.
Genetics can potentially provide new, species-specific, environmentally friendly methods for mosquito control. Genetic control strategies aim either to suppress target populations or to introduce a harm-reducing novel trait. Different approaches differ considerably in their ...

Effects of a male meiotic driver on male and female transcriptomes in the house mouse

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A. Lindholm, A. Sutter, S. Kunzel, D. Tautz and H. Rehrauer,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  286:1-8. 2019.
Not all genetic loci follow Mendel's rules, and the evolutionary consequences of this are not yet fully known. Genomic conflict involving multiple loci is a likely outcome, as restoration of Mendelian inheritance patterns will be selected for, and sexual conflict may also arise ...

The impact of local population genetic background on the spread of the selfish element Medea-1 in red flour beetles

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S. A. Cash, M. A. Robert, M. D. Lorenzen and F. Gould,  Ecology and Evolution,  12:1-12. 2019.
Selfish genetic elements have been found in the genomes of many species, yet our understanding of their evolutionary dynamics is only partially understood. A number of distinct selfish Medea elements are naturally present in many populations of the red flour beetle (Tribolium ...

The distribution and spread of naturally occurring Medea selfish genetic elements in the United States

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S. A. Cash, M. D. Lorenzen and F. Gould,  Ecology and Evolution,  9:14407–14416.. 2019.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) are DNA sequences that are transmitted to viable offspring in greater than Mendelian frequencies. Medea SGEs occur naturally in some populations of red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) and are expected to increase in frequency within populations ...

Threshold-Dependent Gene Drives in the Wild: Spread, Controllability, and Ecological Uncertainty

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G. A. Backus and J. A. Delborne,  BioScience,  69:900-907. 2019.
Gene drive technology could allow the intentional spread of a desired gene throughout an entire wild population in relatively few generations. However, there are major concerns that gene drives could either fail to spread or spread without restraint beyond the targeted ...

A natural gene drive system influences bovine tuberculosis susceptibility in African buffalo: Possible implications for disease management

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P. van Hooft, W. M. Getz, B. J. Greyling and A. D. S. Bastos,  PLoS One,  14:e0221168. 2019.
Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is endemic to the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) and Kruger National Park, South Africa. In HiP, the disease has been actively managed since 1999 through a test-and-cull procedure targeting BTB-positive buffalo. Prior ...

Assessment of a split homing based gene drive for efficient knockout of multiple genes

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Kandul, N. P., J. Liu, A. Buchman, V. M. Gantz, E. Bier and O. S. Akbari,  bioRxiv,  2019:706929. 2019.
Homing based gene drives (HGD) possess the potential to spread linked cargo genes into natural populations and are poised to revolutionize population control of animals. Given that host-encoded genes have been identified that are important for pathogen transmission, targeting ...

Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the promise of gene drives

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M. Scudellari,  Nature,  571:160-162. 2019.
Altering the genomes of entire animal populations could help to defeat disease and control pests, but researchers worry about the consequences of unleashing this new technology.

Interpopulation spread of a parasitic B chromosome is unlikely through males in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans

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M. I. Manrique-Poyato, J. Cabrero, M. D. López-León, F. Perfectti, R. Gómez and J. P. M. Camacho,  Heredity,  124:197-206. 2019.
The near-neutral model of B chromosome evolution predicts that population invasion is quite fast. To test this prediction, in 1994, we introduced males of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans from a B-carrying population into a B-lacking population and monitored the evolution of ...

A century of bias in genetics and evolution

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L. D. Hurst,  Heredity,  123:33-44. 2019.
Mendel proposed that the heritable material is particulate and that transmission of alleles is unbiased. An assumption of unbiased transmission was necessary to show how variation can be preserved in the absence of selection, so overturning an early objection to Darwinism. In the ...

Daisy-chain gene drives

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MIT Media Lab,  2019.
Who should decide whether, when, and how to alter the environment? These are hard questions, especially when the decisions will impact people in many different communities or nations. Daisy drive systems may help by empowering local communities to make decisions concerning their ...

On the road to a gene drive in mammals

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Conklin, BR,  Nature,  566:43-45. 2019.
A method for making a version of a gene more likely to be inherited than normal, generating what is called a gene drive, might be used to control insect populations. It has now been reported to work in mammals, too.

Variability in the durability of CRISPR-Cas immunity

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Chabas, HN, A.; Meaden, S.; Westra, E. R.; Tremblay, D. M.; Pradier, L.; Lion, S.; Moineau, S.; Gandon, S.,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  374:1-9. 2019.
The durability of host resistance is challenged by the ability of pathogens to escape the defence of their hosts. Understanding the variability in the durability of host resistance is of paramount importance for designing more effective control strategies against infectious ...

Predicting the spatial dynamics of Wolbachia infections in Aedes aegypti arbovirus vector populations in heterogeneous landscapes

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Hancock, PAR, S. A.; Koenraadt, C. J. M.; Scott, T. W.; Hoffmann, A. A.; Godfray, H. C. J.,  Journal of Applied Ecology,  56:1674-1686. 2019.
A promising strategy for reducing the transmission of dengue and other arboviral human diseases by Aedes aegypti mosquito vector populations involves field introductions of the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia. Wolbachia infections inhibit viral transmission by the mosquito, and ...

Design, execution, and analysis of CRISPR-Cas9-based deletions and genetic interaction networks in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans

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Halder, VP, C. B. M.; Chavez, A.; Shapiro, R. S.,  Nature Protocols,  14:955-975. 2019.
The study of fungal pathogens is of immediate importance, yet progress is hindered by the technical challenges of genetic manipulation. For Candida species, their inability to maintain plasmids, unusual codon usage, and inefficient homologous recombination are among the obstacles ...

CRISPR-Clear: A fieldable detection procedure for potential CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive based bioweapons.

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Nieuwenweg, ACvG, Martijn M.; Horsting, Angelina; Hegge, Jorrit W; Velders, Aldrik; Saggiomo, Vittorio,  ChemRxiv,  2019:1-11. 2019.
Rapid progression in genetic modification research has made gene editing increasingly cheaper and easier to use. CRISPR-Cas9 for example, allows for the specific alteration of the genome of an organism with relative simplicity and low costs. This raised a worrying question; can ...

Integral gene drives for population replacement

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Nash, AU, Giulia Mignini; Beaghton, Andrea K.; Hoermann, Astrid; Papathanos, Philippos Aris; Christophides, George K.; Windbichler, Nikolai,  Biology Open,  8:bio037762. 2019.
A first generation of CRISPR-based gene drives has now been tested in the laboratory in a number of organisms, including malaria vector mosquitoes. Challenges for their use in the area-wide genetic control of vector-borne disease have been identified, including the development of ...

Large-cage assessment of a transgenic sex-ratio distortion strain on populations of an African malaria vector

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Facchinelli, LN, A.; Collins, C.; Menichelli, M.; Persampieri, T.; Bucci, A.; Spaccapelo, R.; Crisanti, A.; Benedict, M.,  Parasites & Vectors,  12:70. 2019.
Novel transgenic mosquito control methods require progressively more realistic evaluation. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of a transgene that causes a male-bias sex ratio on Anopheles gambiae target populations in large insectary cages. Life history ...

Modeling the mutation and reversal of engineered underdominance gene drives

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Edgington, MPA, Luke S.,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  479:14-21. 2019.
A range of gene drive systems have been proposed that are predicted to increase their frequency and that of associated desirable genetic material even if they confer a fitness cost on individuals carrying them. Engineered underdominance (UD) is such a system and, in one version, ...

Controlling invasive rodents via synthetic gene drive and the role of polyandry

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Manser, AC, S. J.; Sutter, A.; Blondel, D. V.; Serr, M.; Godwin, J.; Price, T. A. R.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  286:9. 2019.
House mice are a major ecosystem pest, particularly threatening island ecosystems as a non-native invasive species. Rapid advances in synthetic biology offer new avenues to control pest species for biodiversity conservation. Recently, a synthetic sperm-killing gene drive ...

Gene conversion generates evolutionary novelty that fuels genetic conflicts

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Daugherty, MDZ, Sarah E.,  Current Opinion in Genetics & Development,  58-59:49-54. 2019.
Genetic conflicts arise when the evolutionary interests of two genetic elements are not aligned. Conflicts between genomes (e.g. pathogen versus host) or within the same genome (e.g. internal parasitic DNA sequences versus the rest of the host genome) can both foster ‘molecular ...

Evaluating the Probability of CRISPR-based Gene Drive Contaminating Another Species

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Courtier-Orgogozo, VD, Antoine; Gouyon, Pierre-Henri; Boëte, Christophe,  bioRxiv,  776609:27. 2019.
The probability D that a given CRISPR-based gene drive element contaminates another, non-target species can be estimated by the following Drive Risk Assessment Quantitative Estimate (DRAQUE) Equation: D = (hyb+transf).express.cut.flank.immune.nonextinct withhyb = probability of ...

CRISPR Gene Drive (Complete guide 2019)

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Every Cell A Universe,  2018.
Crispr gene drive - malaria cure and a new way to look at conservation.

Population modification of Anopheline species to control malaria transmission

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R. Carballar-Lejarazú and A. A. James,  Pathogens and Global Health,  111:424-435. 2018.
Vector control strategies based on population modification of Anopheline mosquitoes may have a significant role in the malaria eradication agenda. They could consolidate elimination gains by providing barriers to the reintroduction of parasites and competent vectors, and allow ...

Engineered Reciprocal Chromosome Translocations Drive High Threshold, Reversible Population Replacement in Drosophila

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Buchman, ABI, Tobin; Marshall, John M.; Akbari, Omar S.; Hay, Bruce A.,  ACS Synthetic Biology,  7:1359-1370. 2018.
Replacement of wild insect populations with transgene-bearing individuals unable to transmit disease or survive under specific environmental conditions using gene drive provides a self-perpetuating method of disease prevention. Mechanisms that require the gene drive element and ...

Engineered integrative and conjugative elements for efficient and inducible DNA transfer to undomesticated bacteria

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Brophy, JANT, Alexander J.; Adams, Bryn L.; Renberg, Rebecca L.; Stratis-Cullum, Dimitra N.; Grossman, Alan D.; Voigt, Christopher A.,  Nature Microbiology,  3:1043-1053. 2018.
Engineering microorganisms to promote human or plant health will require manipulation of robust bacteria that are capable of surviving in harsh, competitive environments. Genetic engineering of undomesticated bacteria can be limited by an inability to transfer DNA into the cell. ...

Evaluating active genetic options for the control of Sea Lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) in the Laurentian Great Lakes

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Thresher, REJ, Michael; Drake, D. Andrew,  Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences,  76:1186-1202. 2018.
For more than two decades the Great Lakes Fishery Commission has sought tactics to complement, and potentially replace, the use of barriers and lampricides to control Sea Lamprey in the Great Lakes, but thus far without success. This paper examines the potential of modern genetic ...

Evolutionary genetics of cytoplasmic incompatibility genes cifA and cifB in prophage WO of Wolbachia

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Lindsey, A. R. I., D. W. Rice, S. R. Bordenstein, A. W. Brooks, S. R. Bordenstein and I. L. G. Newton,  Genome Biology and Evolution,  10:434-451. 2018.
The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia manipulates arthropod reproduction to facilitate its maternal spread through host populations. The most common manipulation is cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI): Wolbachia-infected males produce modified sperm that cause embryonic mortality, ...

Genetic villains: Killer meiotic drivers

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Bravo 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 ...

Origin, composition, and structure of the supernumerary B chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster

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Hanlon, SLM, Danny E.; Eche, Salam; Hawley, R. Scott,  Genetics,  210:1197. 2018.
The number of chromosomes carried by an individual species is one of its defining characteristics. Some species, however, can also carry supernumerary chromosomes referred to as B chromosomes. B chromosomes were recently identified in a laboratory stock of Drosophila ...

Carrying a selfish genetic element predicts increased migration propensity in free-living wild house mice

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Runge, J-NL, Anna K.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  285:20181333. 2018.
Life is built on cooperation between genes, which makes it vulnerable to parasitism. Selfish genetic elements that exploit this cooperation can achieve large fitness gains by increasing their transmission relative to the rest of the genome. This leads to counter-adaptations that ...

Unexpected patterns of segregation distortion at a selfish supergene in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta

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Ross, KGS, DeWayne,  BMC Genetics,  19:101. 2018.
The Sb supergene in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta determines the form of colony social organization, with colonies whose inhabitants bear the element containing multiple reproductive queens and colonies lacking it containing only a single queen. Several features of this ...

Veni, vidi, vici: the success of wtf meiotic drivers in fission yeast

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López Hernández, JFZ, Sarah E.,  Yeast,  35:447-453. 2018.
Meiotic drivers are selfish DNA loci that can bias their own transmission into gametes. Owing to their transmission advantages, meiotic drivers can spread in populations even if the drivers or linked variants decrease organismal fitness. Meiotic drive was first formally described ...

Development of a multi-locus CRISPR gene drive system in budding yeast

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Yan, YF, Gregory C.,  Scientific reports,  8:17277-17277. 2018.
The discovery of CRISPR/Cas gene editing has allowed for major advances in many biomedical disciplines and basic research. One arrangement of this biotechnology, a nuclease-based gene drive, can rapidly deliver a genetic element through a given population and studies in fungi and ...

Population dynamics of underdominance gene drive systems in continuous space

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Champer, JZ, Joanna; Champer, Sam; Liu, Jingxian; Messer, Philipp W.,  bioRxiv,  449355:1-23. 2018.
Underdominance gene drive systems promise a mechanism for rapidly spreading payload alleles through a local population while otherwise remaining confined, unable to spread into neighboring populations due to their frequency-dependent dynamics. Such systems could provide a new ...

Tuning CRISPR-Cas9 gene grives in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Roggenkamp, EG, Rachael M.; Schrock, Madison N.; Turnquist, Emily; Halloran, Megan; Finnigan, Gregory C.,  G3-Genes Genomes Genetics,  8:999. 2018.
Control of biological populations is an ongoing challenge in many fields, including agriculture, biodiversity, ecological preservation, pest control, and the spread of disease. In some cases, such as insects that harbor human pathogens (e.g., malaria), elimination or reduction of ...

Reducing resistance allele formation in CRISPR gene drive

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Champer, JL, Jingxian; Oh, Suh Yeon; Reeves, Riona; Luthra, Anisha; Oakes, Nathan; Clark, Andrew G.; Messer, Philipp W.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  115:5522-5527. 2018.
A functioning gene drive mechanism could fundamentally change our strategies for the control of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue, and Zika. CRISPR homing gene drive promises such a mechanism, which could be used to rapidly spread genetic modifications among the ...

RPM-Drive: A robust, safe, and reversible gene drive system that remains functional after 200+ generations

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Reed, FAA-M, Todd G.; Costantini, Maria S.; Láruson, Áki J.; Sutton, Jolene T.,  arXiv,  1806.05304:1-19. 2018.
Despite the advent of several novel, synthetic gene drive mechanisms and their potential to one-day control a number of devastating diseases, among other applications, practical use of these systems remains contentious and risky. In particular, there is little in the way of ...

A CRISPR–Cas9 gene drive targeting doublesex causes complete population suppression in caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes

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Kyrou, KH, Andrew M.; Galizi, Roberto; Kranjc, Nace; Burt, Austin; Beaghton, Andrea K.; Nolan, Tony; Crisanti, Andrea,  Nature Biotechnology,  36:1062–1066. 2018.
In the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, the gene doublesex (Agdsx) encodes two alternatively spliced transcripts, dsx-female (AgdsxF) and dsx-male (AgdsxM), that control differentiation of the two sexes. The female transcript, unlike the male, contains an exon (exon 5) ...

Correction to ‘Dodging silver bullets: good CRISPR gene-drive design is critical for eradicating exotic vertebrates’

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Prowse, TAAC, Phillip; Ross, Joshua V.; Pfitzner, Chandran; Wittmann, Talia; Thomas, Paul,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  285:1-2. 2018.
Proc. R. Soc. B 284, 20170799. (Published Online 9 August 2017). (doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.0799)We recently found an error in our calculation of the probability of a wild-type allele moving from s to j susceptible sites (), and acquiring the gene drive (), during gene-drive homing, ...

Rationally-engineered reproductive barriers using CRISPR & CRISPRa: an evaluation of the synthetic species concept in Drosophila melanogaster

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Waters, AJC, Paolo; Gaboriau, David C. A.; Papathanos, Philippos Aris; Windbichler, Nikolai,  Scientific Reports,  8:13125. 2018.
The ability to erect rationally-engineered reproductive barriers in animal or plant species promises to enable a number of biotechnological applications such as the creation of genetic firewalls, the containment of gene drives or novel population replacement and suppression ...

Redkmer: An assembly-free pipeline for the identification of abundant and specific X-chromosome target sequences for X-shredding by CRISPR endonucleases

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Papathanos, PAW, Nikolai,  CRISPR Journal,  1:88-98. 2018.
CRISPR-based synthetic sex ratio distorters, which operate by shredding the X-chromosome during male meiosis, are promising tools for the area-wide control of harmful insect pest or disease vector species. X-shredders have been proposed as tools to suppress insect populations by ...

B Chromosomes in populations of mammals revisited

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Vujoševi?, MR, Marija; Blagojevi?, Jelena,  Genes,  9:487. 2018.
The study of B chromosomes (Bs) started more than a century ago, while their presence in mammals dates since 1965. As the past two decades have seen huge progress in application of molecular techniques, we decided to throw a glance on new data on Bs in mammals and to review them. ...

Behavior of homing endonuclease gene drives targeting genes required for viability or female fertility with multiplexed guide RNAs

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Oberhofer, GI, Tobin; Hay, Bruce A.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  115:e9343. 2018.
Homing endonuclease gene (HEG)-based gene drive can bring about population suppression when genes required for viability or fertility are targeted. However, these strategies are vulnerable to failure through mechanisms that create alleles resistant to cleavage but that retain ...

Spindle asymmetry drives non-Mendelian chromosome segregation

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T. Akera, L. Chmátal, E. Trimm, K. Yang, C. Aonbangkhen, D. M. Chenoweth, C. Janke, R. M. Schultz and M. A. Lampson,  Science,  358:668. 2017.
Genetic elements compete for transmission through meiosis, when haploid gametes are created from a diploid parent. Selfish elements can enhance their transmission through a process known as meiotic drive. In female meiosis, selfish elements drive by preferentially attaching to ...

CRISPR’s Gene Drive Could Revive Extinct Species–or Create New Ones | Jennifer Doudna

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Jennifer Doudna,  Big Think,  2017.
A leading gene editing scientist, Jennifer Doudna, discusses gene drive and their applications as well as de-extinction technologies.

Gene drive for Malaria control | Andrea Crisanti |

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TEDx,  2017.
Andrea discusses his team's laboratory work that has developed a revolutionary technology to spread genetic modifications from few laboratory mosquitoes to wild populations to eradicate malaria in the near future

Dodging silver bullets: good CRISPR gene-drive design is critical for eradicating exotic vertebrates

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Prowse, TAAC, Phillip; Ross, Joshua V.; Pfitzner, Chandran; Wittmann, Talia A.; Thomas, Paul,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  284:20170799. 2017.
Self-replicating gene drives that can spread deleterious alleles through animal populations have been promoted as a much needed but controversial ‘silver bullet’ for controlling invasive alien species. Homing-based drives comprise an endonuclease and a guide RNA (gRNA) that ...

wtf genes are prolific dual poison-antidote meiotic drivers

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Nuckolls, NLN, M. A. B.; Eickbush, M. T.; Young, J. M.; Lange, J. J.; Yu, J. S.; Smith, G. R.; Jaspersen, S. L.; Malik, H. S.; Zanders, S. E.,  eLife,  6:e26033. 2017.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genes that bias their transmission into gametes, defying Mendelian inheritance. Despite the significant impact of these genomic parasites on evolution and infertility, few meiotic drive loci have been identified or mechanistically characterized. Here, ...

CRISPR/Cas9 gene drives in genetically variable and nonrandomly mating wild populations

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Drury, DWD, A. L.; Siniard, D. J.; Zentner, G. E.; Wade, M. J.,  Science Advances,  3:e1601910. 2017.
Synthetic gene drives based on CRISPR/Cas9 have the potential to control, alter, or suppress populations of crop pests and disease vectors, but it is unclear how they will function in wild populations. Using genetic data from four populations of the flour beetle Tribolium ...

B chromosome in Plantago lagopus Linnaeus, 1753 shows preferential transmission and accumulation through unusual processes

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Dhar, MKK, G.; Kaul, S.,  Comparative Cytogenetics,  11:375-391. 2017.
Plantago lagopus is a diploid (2n = 2x = 12) weed belonging to family Plantaginaceae. We reported a novel B chromosome in this species composed of 5S and 45S ribosomal DNA and other repetitive elements. In the present work, presence of B chromosome(s) was confirmed through FISH ...

Engineering species-like barriers to sexual reproduction

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Maselko, MH, Stephen C.; Chacón, Jeremy M.; Harcombe, William R.; Smanski, Michael J.,  Nature Communications,  8:883. 2017.
Controlling the exchange of genetic information between sexually reproducing populations has applications in agriculture, eradication of disease vectors, control of invasive species, and the safe study of emerging biotechnology applications. Here we introduce an approach to ...

Gene drives do not always increase in frequency: from genetic models to risk assessment

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de Jong, TJ,  Journal Fur Verbraucherschutz Und Lebensmittelsicherheit-Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety,  12:299-307. 2017.
Homing genes encode endonucleases that make a double stranded break in the DNA, destroying a target site on the homologous chromosome. When the cell repairs the break the homing allele is copied, converting a heterozygote into a homozygote. This results in gene drive (GD), an ...

Introduction of a male-harming mitochondrial haplotype via ‘Trojan Females’ achieves population suppression in fruit flies

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Wolff, JNG, N. J.; Tompkins, D. M.; Dowling, D. K.,  eLife,  6:e23551. 2017.
Pests are a global threat to biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human health. Pest control approaches are thus numerous, but their implementation costly, damaging to non-target species, and ineffective at low population densities. The Trojan Female Technique (TFT) is a ...

Novel CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive constructs reveal insights into mechanisms of resistance allele formation and drive efficiency in genetically diverse populations

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Champer, JR, Riona; Oh, Suh Yeon; Liu, Chen; Liu, Jingxian; Clark, Andrew G.; Messer, Philipp W.,  PLOS Genetics,  13:e1006796. 2017.
Author summary Gene drive systems provide a wide array of potential applications, including new strategies for the control of vector-borne diseases. For example, a functioning gene drive system could rapidly spread a genetically modified allele designed to reduce pathogen ...

A pooled sequencing approach identifies a candidate meiotic driver in Drosophila

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Wei, KHCR, H. M.; Rathnam, C.; Lee, J.; Lin, D. A. N.; Ji, S. Q.; Mason, J. M.; Clark, A. G.; Barbash, D. A.,  Genetics,  206:451-465. 2017.
Meiotic drive occurs when a selfish element increases its transmission frequency above the Mendelian ratio by hijacking the asymmetric divisions of female meiosis. Meiotic drive causes genomic conflict and potentially has a major impact on genome evolution, but only a few drive ...

X chromosome drive in a widespread Palearctic woodland fly, Drosophila testacea

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Keais, GLH, M. A.; Gowen, B. E.; Perlman, S. J.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  30:1185-1194. 2017.
Selfish genes that bias their own transmission during meiosis can spread rapidly in populations, even if they contribute negatively to the fitness of their host. Driving X chromosomes provide a clear example of this type of selfish propagation. These chromosomes have important ...

A large gene family in fission yeast encodes spore killers that subvert Mendel’s law

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Hu, WJ, Z. D.; Suo, F.; Zheng, J. X.; He, W. Z.; Du, L. L.,  eLife,  6:e28567. 2017.
Spore killers in fungi are selfish genetic elements that distort Mendelian segregation in their favor. It remains unclear how many species harbor them and how diverse their mechanisms are. Here, we discover two spore killers from a natural isolate of the fission yeast ...

B Chromosomes – A matter of chromosome drive

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Houben, A,  Frontiers in Plant Science,  8:210. 2017.
B chromosomes are supernumerary chromosomes which are often preferentially inherited, deviating from usual Mendelian segregation. The balance between the so-called chromosome drive and the negative effects that the presence of Bs applies on the fitness of their host determines ...

Spatial gene drives and pushed genetic waves

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Tanaka, HS, Howard A.; Nelson, David R.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  114:8452. 2017.
Gene constructs introduced into natural environments have been proposed to solve various ecological problems. The CRISPR-Cas9 technology greatly facilitates construction of gene drives that allow desired traits to rapidly replace wild types, even if these convey a selective ...

The creation and selection of mutations resistant to a gene drive over multiple generations in the malaria mosquito

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Hammond, AMK, Kyros; Bruttini, Marco; North, Ace; Galizi, Roberto; Karlsson, Xenia; Kranjc, Nace; Carpi, Francesco M.; D’Aurizio, Romina; Crisanti, Andrea; Nolan, Tony,  PLOS Genetics,  13:e1007039. 2017.
Gene drives are selfish genetic elements that are able to bias their own inheritance among offspring. Starting from very low frequencies they can rapidly invade a population in just a few generations, even when imposing a fitness cost. Gene drives based on the precise DNA cutting ...

Potential of gene drives with genome editing to increase genetic gain in livestock breeding programs

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Gonen, SJ, J.; Gorjanc, G.; Mileham, A. J.; Whitelaw, C. B. A.; Hickey, J. M.,  Genetics Selection Evolution,  49:14. 2017.
This paper uses simulation to explore how gene drives can increase genetic gain in livestock breeding programs. Gene drives are naturally occurring phenomena that cause a mutation on one chromosome to copy itself onto its homologous chromosome. Methods: We simulated nine ...

Driving out malaria

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Nolan, TC, A.,  Scientist,  2017.
In recent years, researchers have sequenced the genomes of several Anopheles mosquito species, including those responsible for nearly all of the malaria transmission in Africa. With this information, they have begun to identify the genes underlying the insects’ ability to ...

Prospects and challenges of CRISPR/Cas genome editing for the study and control of neglected vector-borne nematode diseases

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M. 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 ...

No evidence for female discrimination against male house mice carrying a selfish genetic element

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Sutter, 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 ...

Marcus Rhoades on preferential segregation in maize

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Birchler, 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 ...

Random and non-random mating populations: Evolutionary dynamics in meiotic drive

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Sarkar, 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

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Rydzewski, 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 ...

A meiotic drive element in the maize pathogen Fusarium verticillioides is located within a 102 kb region of chromosome V

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Pyle, 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 ...

Occasional recombination of a selfish X-chromosome may permit its persistence at high frequencies in the wild

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Pieper, 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

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Paulraj, 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

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Manrique-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 ...

Stability of underdominant genetic polymorphisms in population networks

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Laruson, 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

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Kubo, 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

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Hoang, 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

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Helleu, 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

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Hammond, 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

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Wu, 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 ...

The dawn of active genetics

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Gantz, 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?

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Sutter, 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

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Didion, 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 ...

CRISPR-Cas9: Safeguarding Gene Drives

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Harvard University,  2015.
In this animation, learn how effective safeguarding mechanisms developed at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School can be applied to ensure gene drive research is done responsibly in the laboratory. These safeguards enable responsible scientific investigation into how gene ...

National Academies of Science | Workshop: Science, Ethics, and Governance Considerations for Gene Drive Research – 2015

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National Academy of Sciences Engineering Medicine,  National Academy of Sciences,  2015.

Gene drive turns mosquitoes into malaria fighters

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Pennisi, 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 ...

A prezygotic transmission distorter acting equally in female and male zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata

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Knief, 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 ...

Sex chromosome drive

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Helleu, QG, P. R.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.,  Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology,  7:a017616. 2015.
Sex chromosome drivers are selfish elements that subvert Mendel's first law of segregation and therefore are over represented among the products of meiosis. The sex-biased progeny produced then fuels an extended genetic conflict between the driver and the rest of the genome. Many ...

Mating type and spore killing characterization of Fusarium verticillioides strains

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Guo, LB, A. Z.; Geiser, D. M.; Jimenez-Gasco, M. D.; Kuldau, G. A.,  Mycological Progress,  14:1045. 2015.
Fusarium verticillioides is a heterothallic ascomycete causing maize ear rot, and produces fumonisin mycotoxins harmful to livestock and human health. A meiotic drive phenomenon called spore killing has been reported in several filamentous fungi including F. verticillioides. F. ...

Highly efficient Cas9-mediated gene drive for population modification of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi

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Gantz, VMJ, N.; Tatarenkova, O.; Fazekas, A.; Macias, V. M.; Bier, E.; James, A. A.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  112:e6736-e6743. 2015.
Genetic engineering technologies can be used both to create transgenic mosquitoes carrying antipathogen effector genes targeting human malaria parasites and to generate gene-drive systems capable of introgressing the genes throughout wild vector populations. We developed a highly ...

The mutagenic chain reaction: A method for converting heterozygous to homozygous mutations

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V. M. Gantz and E. Bier,  Science,  348:442. 2015.
Loss-of-function mutations may only produce a mutant phenotype when both copies of the gene are mutated. Gantz and Bier developed a method they call mutagenic chain reaction (MCR) that autocatalytically produces homozygous mutations. MCR uses the initial mutated allele to cause a ...

R2d2 and hyperdrive mechanisms (in Mouse meiosis)

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Zanders, SEM, H. S.,  PLOS Genetics,  11:1-4. 2015.
Mendelian transmission is established during meiosis, the cell division that generates haploidgametes (e.g., sperm and eggs) from diploid germ cells. Meiosis does not, however, have to befair. Selfish genetic elements, or meiotic drivers, have evolved to cheat this process in ...

Origin, evolution, and population genetics of the selfish Segregation Distorter gene duplication in European and African populations of Drosophila melanogaster

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Brand, CLL, A. M.; Presgraves, D. C.,  Evolution,  69:1271-1283. 2015.
Meiotic drive elements are a special class of evolutionarily selfish genes that subvert Mendelian segregation to gain preferential transmission at the expense of homologous loci. Many drive elements appear to be maintained in populations as stable polymorphisms, their equilibrium ...

Sex-ratio meiotic drive and Y-linked resistance in Drosophila affinis

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Unckless, RLL, A. M.; Clark, A. G.,  Genetics,  199:831-840. 2015.
Genetic elements that cheat Mendelian segregation by biasing transmission in their favor gain a significant fitness benefit. Several examples of sex-ratio meiotic drive, where one sex chromosome biases its own transmission at the cost of the opposite sex chromosome, exist in ...

Detrimental effects of an autosomal selfish genetic element on sperm competitiveness in house mice

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Sutter, AL, A. K.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  282:1-8. 2015.
Female multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread across many animal taxa and indirect genetic benefits are a major evolutionary force favouring polyandry. An incentive for polyandry arises when multiple mating leads to sperm competition that disadvantages sperm from genetically ...

Presence of segregation distortion in sheep

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Raed, MA,  Research Journal of Biotechnology,  10:87-98. 2015.
The main objective of this project was the investigation of presence of segregation distortion (SD) and description of other relevant parameters of multilocus genetics in Australian Merino sheep. The SD cases investigated three flocks of 98, 79 and 92 offspring and their ...

Systematic evaluation of Drosophila CRISPR tools reveals safe and robust alternatives to autonomous gene drives in basic research

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Port, FM, N.; Bullock, S. L.,  G3-Genes Genomes Genetics,  5:1493-1502. 2015.
The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat/CRISPR associated (CRISPR/Cas) technology allows rapid, site-specific genome modification in a wide variety of organisms. Proof-of-principle studies in Drosophila melanogaster have used various CRISPR/Cas tools and ...

Genetic Control of Mosquitoes.

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Alphey, L.,  Annual Review of Entomology,  59:205-224. 2014.
Genetics can potentially provide new, species-specific, environmentally friendly methods for mosquito control. Genetic control strategies aim either to suppress target populations or to introduce a harm-reducing novel trait. Different approaches differ considerably in their ...

GM mosquitoes a ‘quantum leap’ towards tackling malaria

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A. Vaughan,  Guardian,  2014.
New technique injects mosquitoes with a gene that results in mostly male offspring, eventually leading to a population crash

A critical component of meiotic drive in Neurospora is located near a chromosome rearrangement

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Harvey, AMR, D. G.; Groskreutz, K. M.; Kuntz, D. R.; Sharp, K. J.; Shiu, P. K. T.; Hammond, T. M.,  Genetics,  197:1165-1179. 2014.
Neurospora fungi harbor a group of meiotic drive elements known as Spore killers (Sk). Spore killer-2 (Sk-2) and Spore killer-3 (Sk-3) are two Sk elements that map to a region of suppressed recombination. Although this recombination block is limited to crosses between Sk and ...

Genes that bias Mendelian segregation

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Grognet, PL, H.; Malagnac, F.; Silar, P.,  PLOS Genetics,  10:e1004387. 2014.
Mendel laws of inheritance can be cheated by Meiotic Drive Elements (MDs), complex nuclear genetic loci found in various eukaryotic genomes and distorting segregation in their favor. Here, we identify and characterize in the model fungus Podospora anserina Spok1 and Spok2, two ...

Genome rearrangements and pervasive meiotic drive cause hybrid infertility in fission yeast

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Zanders, SEE, M. T.; Yu, J. S.; Kang, J. W.; Fowler, K. R.; Smith, G. R.; Malik, H. S.,  eLife,  3:e02630. 2014.
Hybrid sterility is one of the earliest postzygotic isolating mechanisms to evolve between two recently diverged species. Here we identify causes underlying hybrid infertility of two recently diverged fission yeast species Schizosaccharomyces pombe and S. kambucha, which mate to ...

Dynamics of a combined medea-underdominant population transformation system

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Gokhale, CSR, R. G.; Reed, F. A.,  BMC Evolutionary Biology,  14:98. 2014.
: Transgenic constructs intended to be stably established at high frequencies in wild populations have been demonstrated to "drive" from low frequencies in experimental insect populations. Linking such population transformation constructs to genes which render them unable to ...

Segregation distortion affected by transgenes in early generations of rice crop-weed hybrid progeny: Implications for assessing potential evolutionary impacts from transgene flow into wild relatives

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Yang, CW, Z.; Yang, X.; Lu, B. R.,  Journal of Systematics and Evolution,  52:466-476. 2014.
The significant role of segregation distortion as a driving force of evolution has increasingly gained recognition worldwide. Segregation distortion of parental alleles is commonly reported in hybrid progeny between crops and wild relative species, which possibly influences the ...

A synthetic sex ratio distortion system for the control of the human malaria mosquito

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Galizi, RD, L. A.; Menichelli, M.; Bernardini, F.; Deredec, A.; Burt, A.; Stoddard, B. L.; Windbichler, N.; Crisanti, A.,  Nature Communications,  5:3977. 2014.
It has been theorized that inducing extreme reproductive sex ratios could be a method to suppress or eliminate pest populations. Limited knowledge about the genetic makeup and mode of action of naturally occurring sex distorters and the prevalence of co-evolving suppressors has ...

Biased transmission of sex chromosomes in the aphid Myzus persicae is not associated with reproductive mode

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Wilson, ACCD, R. N.; Vorburger, C.,  PLOS One,  9:1-12. 2014.
Commonly, a single aphid species exhibits a wide range of reproductive strategies including cyclical parthenogenesis and obligate parthenogenesis. Sex determination in aphids is chromosomal; females have two X chromosomes, while males have one. X chromosome elimination at male ...

Genetic control of invasive fish: technological options and its role in integrated pest management

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Thresher, REH, K.; Bax, N. J.; Teem, J.; Benfey, T. J.; Gould, F.,  Biological Invasions,  16:1201-1216. 2014.
Genetic options for the control of invasive fishes were recently reviewed and synthesized at a 2010 international symposium, held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, USA. The only option currently available "off-the-shelf'' is triploidy, which can be used to produce sterile males for a ...

Male eyespan size is associated with meiotic drive in wild stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni)

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Cotton, AJF, M.; Cotton, S.; Pomiankowski, A.,  Heredity,  112:363-369. 2014.
This study provides the first direct evidence from wild populations of stalk-eyed flies to support the hypothesis that male eyespan is a signal of meiotic drive. Several stalk-eyed fly species are known to exhibit X-linked meiotic drive. A recent quantitative trait locus analysis ...

A selfish gene chastened: Tribolium castaneum Medea M (4) is silenced by a complementary gene

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Thomson, MS,  Genetica,  142:161-167. 2014.
Maternal-effect dominant embryonic arrest (Medea) of Tribolium castaneum are autosomal factors that act maternally to cause the death of any progeny that do not inherit them. This selfish behavior is thought to result from a maternally expressed poison and zygotically expressed ...

Centromere strength provides the cell biological basis for meiotic drive and karyotype evolution in mice

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Chmatal, LG, S. I.; Mitsainas, G. P.; Martinez-Vargas, J.; Ventura, J.; Searle, J. B.; Schultz, R. M.; Lampson, M. A.,  Current Biology,  24:2295-2300. 2014.
Mammalian karyotypes (number and structure of chromosomes) can vary dramatically over short evolutionary time frames [1-3]. There are examples of massive karyotype conversion, from mostly telocentric (centromere terminal) to mostly metacentric (centromere internal), in 102-10 s ...

An X-linked sex ratio distorter in Drosophila simulans that kills or incapacitates both noncarrier sperm and sons

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Rice, WR,  G3-Genes Genomes Genetics,  4:1837-1848. 2014.
Genomic conflict occurs when a genomic component gains a reproductive advantage at the expense of the organism as a whole. X-linked segregation distorters kill or incapacitate Y-bearing sperm, thereby gaining a transmission advantage but also reducing male fertility and ...

Meiotic drive impacts expression and evolution of X-linked genes in stalk-eyed flies

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Reinhardt, JAB, C. L.; Paczolt, K. A.; Johns, P. M.; Baker, R. H.; Wilkinson, G. S.,  PLOS Genetics,  10:e1004362. 2014.
Although sex chromosome meiotic drive has been observed in a variety of species for over 50 years, the genes causing drive are only known in a few cases, and none of these cases cause distorted sex-ratios in nature. In stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni), driving X chromosomes ...

Analysis of segregation distortion and its relationship to hybrid barriers in rice

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Reflinur, K, B.; Jang, S. M.; Chu, S. H.; Bordiya, Y.; Akter, M. B.; Lee, J.; Chin, J. H.; Koh, H. J.,  Rice,  7:3. 2014.
Segregation distortion (SD) is a frequently observed occurrence in mapping populations generated from crosses involving divergent genotypes. In the present study, ten genetic linkage maps constructed from reciprocal F-2 and BC1F1 mapping populations derived from the parents ...

Multiple sex chromosomes in the light of female meiotic drive in amniote vertebrates

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Pokorna, MA, M.; Kratochvil, L.,  Chromosome Research,  22:35-44. 2014.
It is notable that the occurrence of multiple sex chromosomes differs significantly between major lineages of amniote vertebrates. In this respect, birds are especially conspicuous, as multiple sex chromosomes have not been observed in this lineage so far. On the other hand, in ...

Meiotic drive influences the outcome of sexually antagonistic selection at a linked locus

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Patten, MM,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  27:2360-2370. 2014.
Most meiotic drivers, such as the t-haplotype in Mus and the segregation distorter (SD) in Drosophila, act in a sex-specific manner, gaining a transmission advantage through one sex although suffering only the fitness costs associated with the driver in the other. Their ...

Transmission distortion affecting human noncrossover but not crossover recombination: A hidden source of meiotic drive

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Odenthal-Hesse, LB, I. L.; Veselis, A.; Jeffreys, A. J.; May, C. A.,  PLOS Genetics,  10:e1004106. 2014.
Author Summary Meiosis is an essential feature of sexual reproduction that maintains chromosome number over generations. This specialised form of cell division creates gametes containing a single copy of each chromosome so that each parent contributes half their genetic ...

The organization and evolution of the Responder satellite in species of the Drosophila melanogaster group: dynamic evolution of a target of meiotic drive

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Larracuente, AM,  BMC Evolutionary Biology,  14:233. 2014.
: Satellite DNA can make up a substantial fraction of eukaryotic genomes and has roles in genome structure and chromosome segregation. The rapid evolution of satellite DNA can contribute to genomic instability and genetic incompatibilities between species. Despite its ubiquity ...

Elimination of Y chromosome-bearing spermatids during spermiogenesis in an autosomal sex-ratio mutant of Drosophila simulans

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Yasuno, YI, Y. H.; Yamamoto, M. T.,  Genes & Genetic Systems,  88:113-126. 2013.
Sex ratio distortion, which is commonly abbreviated as sex-ratio, has been studied in many Drosophila species, but the mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we report on the sex-ratio mutant of D. simulans named excess of females (exf). The third chromosomal recessive mutation ...

Sex-biased gene expression during head development in a sexually dimorphic stalk-eyed fly

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Wilkinson, GSJ, P. M.; Metheny, J. D.; Baker, R. H.,  PLOS One,  8:1-10. 2013.
Stalk-eyed flies (family Diopsidae) are a model system for studying sexual selection due to the elongated and sexually dimorphic eye-stalks found in many species. These flies are of additional interest because their X chromosome is derived largely from an autosomal arm in other ...

Association of polyandry and sex-ratio drive prevalence in natural populations of Drosophila neotestacea

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Pinzone, CAD, K. A.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  280:20131397. 2013.
Selfish genetic elements bias their own transmission to the next generation, even at the expense of the fitness of their carrier. Sex-ratio (SR) meiotic drive occurs when an X-chromosome causes Y-bearing sperm to die during male spermatogenesis, so that it is passed on to all of ...

Transmission rate variation among three B chromosome variants in the fish Prochilodus lineatus (Characiformes, Prochilodontidae)

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Penitente, MV, T. A.; Senhorini, J. A.; Bortolozzi, J.; Foresti, F.; Porto-Foresti, F.,  Anais Da Academia Brasileira De Ciencias,  85:1371-1377. 2013.
Cytogenetic studies were developed in Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes 1836), describing an interesting system of small supernumerary chromosomes. The purpose of this work is to study the frequency and morphology of B chromosomes in individuals from the parental line and the ...

Modeling the dynamics of a non-limited and a self-limited gene drive system in structured Aedes aegypti populations

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Legros, MX, C. G.; Morrison, A.; Scott, T. W.; Lloyd, A. L.; Gould, F.,  PLOS One,  8:e83354. 2013.
Recently there have been significant advances in research on genetic strategies to control populations of disease-vectoring insects. Some of these strategies use the gene drive properties of selfish genetic elements to spread physically linked anti-pathogen genes into local ...

Transmission ratio distortion: review of concept and implications for genetic association studies

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Huang, LOL, A.; Infante-Rivard, C.,  Human Genetics,  132:245-263. 2013.
Transmission ratio distortion (TRD) occurs when one of the two alleles from either parent is preferentially transmitted to the offspring. This leads to a statistical departure from the Mendelian law of inheritance, which states that each of the two parental alleles is transmitted ...

Mutations to the piRNA Pathway Component Aubergine Enhance Meiotic Drive of Segregation Distorter in Drosophila melanogaster

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Gell, SLR, R. A.,  Genetics,  193:771-784. 2013.
Diploid sexual reproduction involves segregation of allelic pairs, ensuring equal representation of genotypes in the gamete pool. Some genes, however, are able to "cheat" the system by promoting their own transmission. The Segregation distorter (Sd) locus in Drosophila ...

The design and in vivo evaluation of engineered I-OnuI-based enzymes for HEG gene drive

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Chan, YST, R.; Jarjour, J.; Huen, D. S.; Stoddard, B. L.; Russell, S.,  PLOS One,  8:e74254. 2013.
The homing endonuclease gene (HEG) drive system, a promising genetic approach for controlling arthropod populations, utilises engineered nucleases to spread deleterious mutations that inactivate individual genes throughout a target population. Previous work with a naturally ...

Optimising homing endonuclease gene drive performance in a semi-refractory species: The Drosophila melanogaster experience

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Chan, YSH, D. S.; Glauert, R.; Whiteway, E.; Russell, S.,  PLOS One,  8:e54130. 2013.
Homing endonuclease gene (HEG) drive is a promising insect population control technique that employs meganucleases to impair the fitness of pest populations. Our previous studies showed that HEG drive was more difficult to achieve in Drosophila melanogaster than Anopheles gambiae ...

Natural variation of the Y chromosome suppresses sex ratio distortion and modulates testis-specific gene expression in Drosophila simulans

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Branco, ATT, Y.; Hartl, D. L.; Lemos, B.,  Heredity,  111:8-15. 2013.
X-linked sex-ratio distorters that disrupt spermatogenesis can cause a deficiency in functional Y-bearing sperm and a female-biased sex ratio. Y-linked modifiers that restore a normal sex ratio might be abundant and favored when a X-linked distorter is present. Here we ...

Local dynamics of a fast-evolving sex-ratio system in Drosophila simulans

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Bastide, HG, P. R.; Ogereau, D.; Cazemajor, M.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.,  Molecular Ecology,  22:5352-5367. 2013.
By distorting Mendelian transmission to their own advantage, X-linked meiotic drive elements can rapidly spread in natural populations, generating a sex-ratio bias. One expected consequence is the triggering of a co-evolutionary arms race between the sex chromosome that carries ...

The contribution of female meiotic drive to the evolution of neo-sex chromosomes

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Yoshida, KK, J.,  Evolution,  66:3198-3208. 2012.
Sex chromosomes undergo rapid turnover in certain taxonomic groups. One of the mechanisms of sex chromosome turnover involves fusions between sex chromosomes and autosomes. Sexual antagonism, heterozygote advantage, and genetic drift have been proposed as the drivers for the ...

From genes to games: Cooperation and cyclic dominance in meiotic drive

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Traulsen, AR, F. A.,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  299:120-125. 2012.
Evolutionary change can be described on a genotypic level or a phenotypic level. Evolutionary game theory is typically thought of as a phenotypic approach, although it is frequently argued that it can also be used to describe population genetic evolution. Interpreting the ...

Genetic mapping a meiotic driver that causes sex ratio distortion in the mosquito Aedes aegypti

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Shin, DM, A.; Severson, D. W.,  Journal of Heredity,  103:303-307. 2012.
An endogenous meiotic driver in the dengue and yellow fever vector mosquito Aedes aegypti can cause highly male-biased sex ratio distortion in crosses from suitable genetic backgrounds. We previously selected a strain that carries a strong meiotic drive gene (D) linked with the ...

No evidence of mate discrimination against males carrying a sex ratio distorter in Drosophila pseudoobscura

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Price, TARL, Z.; Smith, D. T.; Hurst, G. D. D.; Wedell, N.,  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology,  66:561-568. 2012.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) that spread by manipulating spermatogenesis often have highly deleterious effects on males that carry them. Females that mate with male carriers of SGEs can also suffer significant costs: they receive fewer and poorer-quality sperm, their offspring ...

Evaluating the evidence for transmission distortion in human pedigrees

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Meyer, WKA, B.; Ober, C.; Ebner, T.; Tiemann-Boege, I.; Hudson, R. R.; Przeworski, M.,  Genetics,  191:215-232. 2012.
Children of a heterozygous parent are expected to carry either allele with equal probability. Exceptions can occur, however, due to meiotic drive, competition among gametes, or viability selection, which we collectively term "transmission distortion" (TD). Although there are ...

The Selfish Segregation Distorter Gene Complex of Drosophila melanogaster

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Larracuente, AMP, D. C.,  Genetics,  192:33-53. 2012.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is an autosomal meiotic drive gene complex found worldwide in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. During spermatogenesis, SD induces dysfunction of SD+ spermatids so that SD/SD+ males sire almost exclusively SD-bearing progeny rather than ...

Complex genetic nature of sex-independent transmission ratio distortion in Asian rice species: the involvement of unlinked modifiers and sex-specific mechanisms

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Koide, YS, Y.; Ikenaga, M.; Sawamura, N.; Matsubara, K.; Onishi, K.; Kanazawa, A.; Sano, Y.,  Heredity,  108:242-247. 2012.
Transmission ratio distortion (TRD), in which one allele is transmitted more frequently than the opposite allele, is presumed to act as a driving force in the emergence of a reproductive barrier. TRD acting in a sex-specific manner has been frequently observed in interspecific ...

Molecular dissection of Neurospora Spore killer meiotic drive elements

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Hammond, TMR, D. G.; Xiao, H.; Shiu, P. K. T.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  109:12093-12098. 2012.
Meiotic drive is a non-Mendelian inheritance phenomenon in which certain selfish genetic elements skew sexual transmission in their own favor. In some cases, progeny or gametes carrying a meiotic drive element can survive preferentially because it causes the death or ...

Local selection underlies the geographic distribution of sex-ratio drive in Drosophila neotestacea

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Dyer, KA,  Evolution,  66:973-984. 2012.
Selfish genetic elements promote their own transmission to the next generation, often at a cost to the host individual. A sex-ratio (SR) driving X chromosome prevents the maturation of Y-bearing sperm, and as a result is transmitted to 100% of the offspring, all of which are ...

Nondisjunction in favor of a Chromosome: The mechanism of rye B chromosome drive during pollen mitosis

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Banaei-Moghaddam, AMS, V.; Kumke, K.; Weiss, O.; Klemme, S.; Nagaki, K.; Macas, J.; Gonzalez-Sanchez, M.; Heredia, V.; Gomez-Revilla, D.; Gonzalez-Garcia, M.; Vega, J. M.; Puertas, M. J.; Houben, A.,  Plant Cell,  24:4124-4134. 2012.
B chromosomes (Bs) are supernumerary components of the genome and do not confer any advantages on the organisms that harbor them. The maintenance of Bs in natural populations is possible by their transmission at higher than Mendelian frequencies. Although drive is the key for ...

Reduced polymorphism associated with X chromosome meiotic drive in the stalk-eyed fly Teleopsis dalmanni

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Christianson, SJB, C. L.; Wilkinson, G. S.,  PLOS One,  6:e27254. 2011.
Sex chromosome meiotic drive has been suggested as a cause of several evolutionary genetic phenomena, including genomic conflicts that give rise to reproductive isolation between new species. In this paper we present a population genetic analysis of X chromosome drive in the ...

Insect population control by homing endonuclease-based gene drive: An evaluation in Drosophila melanogaster

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Chan, YSN, D. A.; Huen, D. S.; Russell, S.,  Genetics,  188:33-44. 2011.
Insects play a major role as vectors of human disease as well as causing significant agricultural losses. Harnessing the activity of customized homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) has been proposed as a method for spreading deleterious mutations through populations with a view to ...

B Chromosomes and Sex in Animals

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Camacho, JPMS, M.; Cabrero, J.,  Sexual Development,  5:155-166. 2011.
Supernumerary (B) chromosomes are dispensable elements found in many eukaryote genomes in addition to standard (A) chromosomes. In many respects, B chromosomes resemble sex chromosomes, so that a common ancestry for them has frequently been suggested. For instance, B chromosomes ...

Rapid rise and fall of selfish sex-ratio X Chromosomes in Drosophila simulans: Spatiotemporal analysis of phenotypic and molecular data

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Bastide, HC, M.; Ogereau, D.; Derome, N.; Hospital, F.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.,  Molecular Biology and Evolution,  28:2461-2470. 2011.
Sex-ratio drive, which has been documented in several Drosophila species, is induced by X-linked segregation distorters. Contrary to Mendel's law of independent assortment, the sex-ratio chromosome (X(SR)) is inherited by more than half the offspring of carrier males, resulting ...

Stability properties of underdominance in finite subdivided populations

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Altrock, PMT, A.; Reed, F. A.,  PLOS Computational Biology,  7:10. 2011.
In isolated populations underdominance leads to bistable evolutionary dynamics: below a certain mutant allele frequency the wildtype succeeds. Above this point, the potentially underdominant mutant allele fixes. In subdivided populations with gene flow there can be stable states ...

A synthetic homing endonuclease-based gene drive system in the human malaria mosquito

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Windbichler, NM, M.; Papathanos, P. A.; Thyme, S. B.; Li, H.; Ulge, U. Y.; Hovde, B. T.; Baker, D.; Monnat, R. J.; Burt, A.; Crisanti, A.,  Nature,  473:212-215. 2011.
Genetic methods of manipulating or eradicating disease vector populations have long been discussed as an attractive alternative to existing control measures because of their potential advantages in terms of effectiveness and species specificity(1-3). The development of ...

Transcript profiling of the meiotic drive phenotype in testis of Aedes aegypti using suppressive subtractive hybridization

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Shin, DYJ, L. Z.; Lobo, N. F.; Severson, D. W.,  Journal of Insect Physiology,  57:1220-1226. 2011.
The meiotic drive gene in Aedes aegypti is tightly linked with the sex determination locus on chromosome 1, and causes highly male-biased sex ratios. We prepared cDNA libraries from testes from the Ae. aegypti 137 strain (driving) and RED strain (non-driving), and used ...

A novel sperm-delivered toxin causes late-stage embryo lethality and transmission ratio distortion in C. elegans

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Seidel, HSA, M.; Li, J. L.; van Oudenaarden, A.; Rockman, M. V.; Kruglyak, L.,  PLOS Biology,  9:e1001115. 2011.
The evolutionary fate of an allele ordinarily depends on its contribution to host fitness. Occasionally, however, genetic elements arise that are able to gain a transmission advantage while simultaneously imposing a fitness cost on their hosts. We previously discovered one such ...

Inverse Medea as a novel gene drive system for socal population replacement: A theoretical analysis

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Marshall, JMH, B. A.,  Journal of Heredity,  102:336-341. 2011.
One strategy to control mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, on a regional scale is to use gene drive systems to spread disease-refractory genes into wild mosquito populations. The development of a synthetic Medea element that has been shown to drive ...

Selective microspore abortion correlated with aneuploidy: an indication of meiotic drive

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Furness, CAR, P. J.,  Sexual Plant Reproduction,  24:1-8. 2011.
Selective megaspore abortion (monomegaspory) probably arose once in seed plants and occurs routinely in more than 70% of angiosperm species, representing one of the key characters of a heterosporous life history. In contrast, selective microspore abortion leading to pollen ...

Changes in sperm tail development associated with Y chromosome meiotic drive leading to an excess of males in the medfly Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae)

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Rendon, PAB, R. D.; Wood, R. J.,  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society,  101:351-359. 2010.
The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wied.) normally produces the sexes in equal ratio but strains carrying the Y chromosome meiotic drive MP (male-producing) factor show an excess of males. This is associated with a loss of sperm, and abnormal sperm structure in terms ...

Games in tetrads: Segregation, recombination, and meiotic drive

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Haig, D,  American Naturalist,  176:404-413. 2010.
The two alleles at a heterozygous locus segregate during meiosis, sometimes at meiosis I and sometimes at meiosis II. The timing of segregation is determined by the pattern of crossing-over between a locus and its attached centromeres. Genes near centromeres can exploit this ...

Segregation analysis of a sex ratio distortion locus in congenic mice

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Casellas, JF, C. R.; Verdugo, R. A.; Medrano, J. F.,  Journal of Heredity,  101:351-359. 2010.
The congenic HG.CAST-(D17Mit196-D17Mit190) (HQ17(hg/hg)) mouse strain showed a significant departure on the expected 50%/50% offspring sex ratio in more than 2400 progeny (55.7% females). The entire pedigree file included data from 13 nonoverlapping purebred generations and an ...

Segregation distortion in chicken and the evolutionary consequences of female meiotic drive in birds

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Axelsson, EA, A.; Van, A. P.; Li, L.; Megens, H. J.; Vereijken, A. L. J.; Crooijmans, Rpma; Groenen, M. A. M.; Ellegren, H.; Willerslev, E.; Nielsen, R.,  Heredity,  105:290-298. 2010.
As all four meiotic products give rise to sperm in males, female meiosis result in a single egg in most eukaryotes. Any genetic element with the potential to influence chromosome segregation, so that it is preferentially included in the egg, should therefore gain a transmission ...

Using underdominance to bi-stably transform local populations

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Altrock, PMT, A.; Reeves, R. G.; Reed, F. A.,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  267:62-75. 2010.
Underdominance refers to natural selection against individuals with a heterozygous genotype. Here, we analyze a single-locus underdominant system of two large local populations that exchange individuals at a certain migration rate. The system can be characterized by fixed points ...

Molecular signature of epistatic selection: interrogating genetic interactions in the sex-ratio meiotic drive of Drosophila simulans

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Chevin, LMB, H.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.; Hospital, F.,  Genetics Research,  91:171-182. 2009.
Fine scale analyses Of signatures of selection allow assessing quantitative aspects of a Species' evolutionary genetic history, such as the strength of selection on genes. When several selected loci lie in the same genomic region, their epistatic interactions may also be ...

Assessment of transmission distortion on chromosome 6p in healthy individuals using tagSNPs

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Santos, PSCH, J.; Schlattmann, P.; Konig, I. R.; Ziegler, A.; Uchanska-Ziegler, B.,  European Journal of Human Genetics,  17:1182-1189. 2009.
The best-documented example for transmission distortion (TD) to normal offspring are the t haplotypes on mouse chromosome 17. In healthy humans, TD has been described for whole chromosomes and for particular loci, but multiple comparisons have presented a statistical obstacle in ...

Multi-Locus Assortment (MLA) for transgene dispersal and elimination in mosquito populations

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Rasgon, JL,  PLOS One,  4:e5833. 2009.
: Replacement of wild-type mosquito populations with genetically modified versions is being explored as a potential strategy to control vector-borne diseases. Due to lower expected relative fitness of transgenic individuals, transgenes must be driven into populations for these ...

Large-scale selective sweep among Segregation Distorter chromosomes in African populations Drosophila melanogaster

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Presgraves, DCG, P. R.; Cherukuri, A.; Lyttle, T. W.,  PLOS Genetics,  5:e1000463. 2009.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a selfish, coadapted gene complex on chromosome 2 of Drosophila melanogaster that strongly distorts Mendelian transmission; heterozygous SD/SD(+) males sire almost exclusively SD-bearing progeny. Fifty years of genetic, molecular, and theory work ...

Sex ratio distorter reduces sperm competitive ability in an insect

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Price, TARB, A. J.; Avent, T. D.; Snook, R. R.; Hurst, G. D. D.; Wedell, N.,  Evolution,  62:1644-1652. 2008.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) are ubiquitous in animals and often associated with low male fertility due to reduced sperm number in male carriers. In the fruit fly Drosophila pseudoobscura, the meiotic driving X chromosome "sex ratio" kills Y-bearing sperm in carrier males (SR ...

Defects in nuclear transport enhance segregation distortion

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McElroy, JMM, R. A.; McLean, J. R.,  Fly,  2:280-290. 2008.
The equal segregation of chromosomes into gametes is a central tenet of Mendelian genetics. It is this process that is responsible for generating predictable outcomes of crosses, as well as subjecting all chromosomes to the natural selective pressures that exert themselves on a ...

Transmission ratio distortion in Arabidopsis lyrata: effects of population divergence and the S-locus

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Leppala, JB, J. S.; Schierup, M. H.; Savolainen, O.,  Heredity,  100:71-78. 2008.
We investigated transmission ratio distortion within an Icelandic population of Arabidopsis lyrata using 16 molecular markers unlinked to the S-locus. Transmission ratio distortion was found more often than expected by chance at the gametic level, but not at the genotypic or ...

The evolution of sex-independent transmission ratio distortion involving multiple allelic interactions at a single locus in rice

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Koide, YI, M.; Sawamura, N.; Nishimoto, D.; Matsubara, K.; Onishi, K.; Kanazawa, A.; Sano, Y.,  Genetics,  180:409-420. 2008.
Transmission ratio distortion (TRD) is frequently observed in inter-and intraspecific hybrids of plants, leading to a violation of Mendelian inheritance. Sex-independent TRD (siTRD) was detected in a hybrid between Asian cultivated rice and its wild ancestor. Here we examined how ...

A Killer–Rescue system for self-limiting gene drive of anti-pathogen constructs

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Gould, FH, Yunxin; Legros, Mathieu; Lloyd, Alun L.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  275:2823-2829. 2008.
A number of genetic mechanisms have been suggested for driving anti-pathogen genes into natural populations. Each of these mechanisms requires complex genetic engineering, and most are theoretically expected to permanently spread throughout the target species' geographical range. ...

Selective sweeps in a 2-locus model for sex-ratio meiotic drive in Drosophila simulans

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Derome, NB, E.; Ogereau, D.; Veuille, M.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.,  Molecular Biology and Evolution,  25:409-416. 2008.
A way to identify loci subject to positive selection is to detect the signature of selective sweeps in given chromosomal regions. It is revealed by the departure of DNA polymorphism patterns from the neutral equilibrium predicted by coalescent theory. We surveyed DNA sequence ...

The population genetics of using homing endonuclease genes in vector and pest management

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Deredec, AB, A.; Godfray, H. C. J.,  Genetics,  179:2013-2026. 2008.
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) encode proteins that in the heterozygous state cause double- strand breaks in the homologous chromosome at the precise position opposite the HFG. If the double-strand break is repaired using the homologous chromosome, the HEG becomes homozygous, ...

Targeting the X chromosome during spermatogenesis induces Y chromosome transmission ratio distortion and early dominant embryo lethality in Anopheles gambiae

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Windbichler, NP, P. A.; Crisanti, A.,  PLOS Genetics,  4:1-9. 2008.
We have exploited the high selectivity of the homing endonuclease I-PpoI for the X-linked Anopheles gambiae 28S ribosomal genes to selectively target X chromosome carrying spermatozoa. Our data demonstrated that in heterozygous males, the expression of I-PpoI in the testes ...

Meiotic drive and sex determination: molecular and cytological mechanisms of sex ratio adjustment in birds

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Rutkowska, JB, A. V.,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  363:1675-1686. 2008.
Differences in relative fitness of male and female offspring across ecological and social environments should favour the evolution of sex-determining mechanisms that enable adjustment of brood sex ratio to the context of breeding. Despite the expectation that genetic sex ...

Sexually antagonistic “Zygotic Drive” of the sex Chromosomes

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Rice, WRG, S.; Friberg, U.,  PLOS Genetics,  4:e1000313. 2008.
Genomic conflict is perplexing because it causes the fitness of a species to decline rather than improve. Many diverse forms of genomic conflict have been identified, but this extant tally may be incomplete. Here, we show that the unusual characteristics of the sex chromosomes ...

Selfish genetic elements promote polyandry in a fly

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Price, TARH, D. J.; Lewis, Z.; Hurst, G. D. D.; Wedell, N.,  Science,  322:1241-1243. 2008.
It is unknown why females mate with multiple males when mating is frequently costly and a single copulation often provides enough sperm to fertilize all a female's eggs. One possibility is that remating increases the fitness of offspring, because fertilization success is biased ...

Homing endonuclease mediated gene targeting in Anopheles gambiae cells and embryos

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Windbichler, NP, P. A.; Catteruccia, F.; Ranson, H.; Burt, A.; Crisanti, A.,  Nucleic Acids Research,  35:5922-5933. 2007.
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are selfish genetic elements that combine the capability to selectively disrupt specific gene sequences with the ability to rapidly spread from a few individuals to an entire population through homologous recombination repair events. Because of ...

Viability effects and not meoitic drive cause dramatic departures from Mendelian inheritance for malic enzyme in hybrids of Tigriopus californicus populations

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Willett, CSB, J. N.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  20:1196-1205. 2007.
The genetic basis of post-zygotic reproductive isolation is beginning to be untangled in closely related species, but less is known about the genetics of reproductive isolation between divergent populations. Here, two genes encoding malic enzyme (ME) are isolated from the copepod ...

A sex-ratio meiotic drive system in Drosophila simulans. I: An autosomal suppressor

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Tao, YM, J. P.; Araripe, L.; Ke, Y.; Hartl, D. L.,  PLOS Biology,  5:2560-2575. 2007.
Sex ratio distortion (sex-ratio for short) has been reported in numerous species such as Drosophila, where distortion can readily be detected in experimental crosses, but the molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here we characterize an autosomal sex-ratio suppressor from D. ...

A sex-ratio meiotic drive system in Drosophila simulans. II: An X-linked distorter

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Tao, YA, L.; Kingan, S. B.; Ke, Y.; Xiao, H.; Hartl, D. L.,  PLOS Biology,  5:2576-2588. 2007.
The evolution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes creates a genetic condition favoring the invasion of sex-ratio meiotic drive elements, resulting in the biased transmission of one sex chromosome over the other, in violation of Mendel's first law. The molecular mechanisms of ...

Neurospora spore killers Sk-2 and Sk-3 suppress meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA

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Raju, NBM, R. L.; Shiu, P. T.,  Genetics,  176:43-52. 2007.
In Neurosphora, crassa., pairing of homologous DNA segments is monitored during meiotic prophase I. Any genes not paired with a homolog, as well as any paired homologs of that gene, are silenced during the sexual phase by a mechanism known as meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA ...

Meiotic drive by the Y-linked D gene in Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera : Culicidae) is associated with disruption of spermiogenesis, leading to premature senescence of spermatozoa

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Owusu-Daaku, KOB, R. D.; Wood, R. J.,  Arthropod Structure & Development,  36:233-243. 2007.
Y chromosome meiotic drive in the mosquito Aedes aegypti, due to the gene D (Distorter) in coupling with M (male determination) [the MD haplotype], is associated with spermiogenic disruption, leading to senescence, at a rate Proportionate to male excess. Spermiogenesis was ...

Identification and characterization of segregation distortion loci along chromosome 5B in tetraploid wheat

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Kumar, SG, B. S.; Faris, J. D.,  Molecular Genetics and Genomics,  278:187-196. 2007.
Segregation distortion genes are widespread in plants and animals and function by their effect on competition among gametes for preferential fertilization. In this study, we evaluated the segregation distortion of molecular markers in multiple reciprocal backcross populations ...

Chromosome-wide linkage disequilibrium as a consequence of meiotic drive

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Dyer, KAC, B.; Jaenike, J.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  104:1587-1592. 2007.
Adaptation by natural selection proceeds most efficiently when alleles compete solely on the basis of their effects on the survival and reproduction of their carriers. A major condition for this is equal Mendelian segregation, but meiotic drive can short-circuit this process. The ...

The hitchhiking effect of an autosomal meiotic drive gene

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Chevin, LMH, F.,  Genetics,  173:1829-1832. 2006.
Transmission-ratio distortion is a departure from a 1:1 segregation of alleles in the gametes of a heterozygous individual. The so-called driving allele is strongly selected regardless of its effect on the fitness of the carrying individual. It may then have an important impact ...

Population dynamics of an endogenous meiotic drive system in Aedes aegypti in Trinidad

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Cha, SJC, D. D.; Severson, D. W.,  American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,  75:70-77. 2006.
An endogenous meiotic drive system was previously reported to be segregating in the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti L. (Diptera: Culicidae) population in Trinidad. The meiotic driver (M-D) is tightly linked to the male determining locus and selectively targets sensitive ...

Fitness effects of X chromosome drive in the stalk-eyed fly, Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni

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Wilkinson, GSJ, P. M.; Kelleher, E. S.; Muscedere, M. L.; Lorsong, A.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  19:1851-1860. 2006.
Sex-ratio (SR) males produce predominantly female progeny because most Y chromosome sperm are rendered nonfunctional. The resulting transmission advantage of X-SR chromosomes should eventually cause population extinction unless segregation distortion is masked by suppressors or ...

Segregation distortion in Arabidopsis C24/Col-0 and Col-0/C24 recombinant inbred line populations is due to reduced fertility caused by epistatic interaction of two loci

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Torjek, OW-W, H.; Meyer, R. C.; von Korff, M.; Kusterer, B.; Rautengarten, C.; Altmann, T.,  Theoretical and Applied Genetics,  113:1551-1561. 2006.
A new large set of reciprocal recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was created between the Arabidopsis accessions Col-0 and C24 for quantitative trait mapping approaches, consisting of 209 Col-0 x C24 and 214 C24 x Col-0 F-7 RI lines. Genotyping was performed using 110 evenly ...

Male biased sex ratio in the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata, an example of Y-chromosome meiotic drive

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Shahjahan, RMR, P. A.; Cook, L. M.; Wood, R. J.,  Heredity,  96:464-470. 2006.
A case of Y-chromosome meiotic drive is reported in the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata. It arose in an irradiated male and results in excess of males. Male excess is inherited strictly from father to son. A Y-linked factor MP (male producer) is proposed. Higher drive ...

The maize Ab 10 meiotic drive system maps to supernumerary sequences in a large complex haplotype

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Mroczek, RJM, J. R.; Luce, A. C.; Hiatt, E. N.; Dawe, R. K.,  Genetics,  174:145-154. 2006.
The meiotic drive system on maize abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10) is contained within a terminal domain of chromatin that extends the long arm of Ab10 to similar to 1.3 times the size of normal chromosome 10L. Ab10 type I (Ab10-I) does not recombine with normal chromosome 10 (N10) ...

Organization of the sex-ratio meiotic drive region in Drosophila simulans

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Montchamp-Moreau, CO, D.; Chaminade, N.; Colard, A.; Aulard, S.,  Genetics,  174:1365-1371. 2006.
Sex-ratio meiotic drive is the preferential transmission of the X chromosome by XY males, which occurs in several Drosophila species and results in female-biased progeny. Although the trait has long been known to exist, its molecular basis remains completely unknown. Here we ...

Sex-ratio meiotic drive in Drosophila simulans: cellular mechanism, candidate genes and evolution

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Montchamp-Moreau, C,  Biochemical Society Transactions,  34:562-565. 2006.
The sex-ratio trait, reported in a dozen Drosophila species, is a type of naturally occurring meiotic drive in which the driving elements are located on the X chromosome. Typically, as the result of a shortage of Y bearing spermatozoa, males carrying a sex-ratio X chromosome ...

Transmission ratio distortion in the human body louse, Pediculus humanus (Insecta : Phthiraptera)

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McMeniman, CJB, S. C.,  Heredity,  96:63-68. 2006.
We studied inheritance at three microsatellite loci in eight F-1 and two F-2 families of the body (clothes) louse of humans, Pediculus humanus. The alleles of heterozygous female-parents were always inherited in a Mendelian fashion in these families. Alleles from heterozygous ...

Maternal transmission ratio distortion at the mouse Om locus results from meiotic drive at the second meiotic division

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Wu, GMH, L. P.; Han, Z. M.; Gao, S. R.; Latham, K. E.; de Villena, F. P. M.; Sapienza, C.,  Genetics,  170:327-334. 2005.
We have observed maternal transmission ratio distortion (TRD) in favor of DDK alleles at the Ovum mutant (Om) locus on mouse chromosome I I among the offspring of (C57BL/6 X DDK) F, females and C57BL/6 males. Although significant lethality occurs in this backcross (similar to ...

Evidence of susceptibility and resistance to cryptic X-linked meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster

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Reed, FAR, R. G.; Aquadro, C. F.,  Evolution,  59:1280-1291. 2005.
There is mounting evidence consistent with a general role of positive selection acting on the Drosophila melanogaster X-chromosome. However, this positive selection need not necessarily arise from forces that are adaptive to the organism. Nonadaptive meiotic drive may exist on ...

Transposable element insertion location bias and the dynamics of gene drive in mosquito populations

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Rasgon, JLG, F.,  Insect Molecular Biology,  14:493-500. 2005.
Some vector-borne disease control strategies using transgenic mosquitoes require transgene spread to high frequency in populations. Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences that replicate and transpose within the genomes of other organisms and may therefore be represented in ...

Segregation distortion in hybrids between the Bogota and USA subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura

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Orr, HAI, S.,  Genetics,  169:671-682. 2005.
We show that, contrary to claims in the literature, "sterile" males resulting from the cross of the Bogota and USA subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura are weakly fertile. Surprisingly, these hybrid males produce almost all daughters when crossed to females of any genotype ...

Degeneration and domestication of a selfish gene in yeast: Molecular evolution versus site-directed mutagenesis

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Koufopanou, VB, A.,  Molecular Biology and Evolution,  22:1535-1538. 2005.
VDE is a homing endonuclease gene in yeasts with an unusual evolutionary history including horizontal transmission, degeneration, and domestication into the mating-type switching locus HO. We investigate here the effects of these features on its molecular evolution. In addition, ...

Evolution of autosomal suppression of the sex-ratio trait in Drosophila

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Vaz, SCC, A. B.,  Genetics,  166:265-277. 2004.
The sex-ratio trait is the production of female-biased progenies due to X-linked meiotic drive in males of several Drosophila species. The driving X chromosome (called SR) is not fixed due to at least two stabilizing factors: natural selection (favoring ST, the nondriving ...

B chromosomes and genome size in flowering plants

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Trivers, RB, A.; Palestis, B. G.,  Genome,  47:1-8. 2004.
B chromosomes are extra chromosomes found in some, but not all, individuals within a species, often maintained by giving themselves an advantage in transmission, i.e. they drive. Here we show that the presence of B chromosomes correlates to and varies strongly and positively with ...

Evolution of divergent DNA recognition specificities in VDE homing endonucleases from two yeast species

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Posey, KLK, V.; Burt, A.; Gimble, F. S.,  Nucleic Acids Research,  32:3947-3956. 2004.
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are mobile DNA elements that are thought to confer no benefit to their host. They encode site-specific DNA endonucleases that perpetuate the element within a species population by homing and disseminate it between species by horizontal transfer. ...

Rapid suppression of drive for a parasitic B chromosome

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Perfectti, FC, J. M.; Mesa, J. A.; Cabrero, J.; Bakkali, M.; Lopez-Leon, M. D.; Camacho, J. P. M.,  Cytogenetic and Genome Research,  106:338-343. 2004.
The persistence of parasitic B chromosomes in natural populations depends on both B ability to drive and host response to counteracting it. In the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans, the B-24 chromosome is the most widespread B chromosome variant in the Torrox area ( Malaga, ...

B chromosomes are more frequent in mammals with acrocentric karyotypes: support for the theory of centromeric drive

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Palestis, BGB, A.; Jones, R. N.; Trivers, R.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  271:S22-S24. 2004.
The chromosomes of mammals tend to be either mostly acrocentric (having one long arm) or mostly bi-armed, with few species having intermediate karyotypes. The theory of centromeric drive suggests that this observation reflects a bias during female meiosis, favouring either more ...

Reinvestigation of an endogenous meiotic drive system in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti (Diptera : Culicidae)

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Mori, AC, D. D.; Graham, D. H.; Severson, D. W.,  Journal of Medical Entomology,  41:1027-1033. 2004.
We have initiated efforts to determine the molecular basis for the M-D meiotic drive system in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The effect of the M-D gene is a highly male-biased sex ratio, but varies depending on the frequency and sensitivity of a susceptible responder m(s) allele. ...

Identification of quantitative trait loci affecting sex determination in the eastern treehole mosquito (Ochlerotatus triseriatus)

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Graham, DHH, J. L.; Black, W. C.,  Journal of Heredity,  95:35-45. 2004.
Laboratory colonies of the eastern treehole mosquito (Ochlerotatus triseriatus (Say)) exhibit a consistent female-biased sex ratio. This is unusual among mosquito species, in which heritable sex ratio distortion is usually male biased and mediated by meiotic drive. Quantitative ...

Inverted meiosis and meiotic drive in mealybugs

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Bongiorni, SF, P.; Pippoletti, D.; Prantera, G.,  Chromosoma,  112:331-341. 2004.
In the males of lecanoid coccids, or mealybugs, an entire, paternally derived, haploid chromosome set becomes heterochromatic after the seventh embryonic mitotic cycle. In females, both haploid sets are euchromatic throughout the life cycle. In mealybugs, as in all homopteran ...

The B chromosome polymorphism of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans in North Africa. IV. Transmission of rare B chromosome variants

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Bakkali, MC, J. P. M.,  Cytogenetic and Genome Research,  106:332-337. 2004.
In addition to the principal B chromosome (B-1) in Moroccan populations of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans, nine B chromosome variants appeared at low frequency. The transmission of five of these rare B chromosome variants through females was analysed in three natural ...

Analysis of two additional loci in Neurospora crassa related to Spore killer-2

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Turner, BC,  Fungal Genetics and Biology,  39:142-150. 2003.
Two new loci found in one strain of Neurospora crassa (P2604) collected in Malaya are related to the meiotic drive system Spore killer Sk-2. Sk-2 was found in Neurospora intermedia and introgressed into N. crassa. P2604 showed high resistance to killing when crossed to Sk-2. This ...

Common features of segregation distortion in plants and animals

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Taylor, DRI, P. K.,  Genetica,  117:27-35. 2003.
Segregation distortion is increasingly recognized as a potentially powerful evolutionary force. This runs counter to the perception that non-Mendelian genes are rare genetic curiosities, a view that seems to be supported by the near ubiquity of the Mendelian system of ...

Genetic dissection of hybrid incompatibilities between Drosophila simulans and D-mauritiana. III. Heterogeneous accumulation of hybrid incompatibilities, degree of dominance, and implications for Haldane’s rule

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Tao, YH, D. L.,  Evolution,  57:2580-2598. 2003.
The genetic basis of Haldane's rule was investigated through estimating the accumulation of hybrid incompatibilities between Drosophila simulans and D. mauritiana by means of introgression. The accumulation of hybrid male sterility (HMS) is at least 10 times greater than that of ...

Meiotic drive – Bickering genes shape evolution – Not all genes follow the rules of inheritance; now researchers are discovering how organisms adapt to the troublemakers

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Pennisi, E,  Science,  301:1837-1839. 2003.
Reproduction is supposed to be an equal opportunity event. Consider humans: In developing sperm, the sex chromosomes sort 50:50 such that half the sperm carry the male-defining Y chromosome and the rest sport an X. Only the randomness of fertilization leads to families of nine ...

The aging effect in the segregation distorter system of Drosophila melanogaster

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Oh, SCN, J. G.,  Korean Journal of Genetics,  25:237-242. 2003.
The SD/SD+ heterozygous male of Drosophila melanogaster transmits the SD second chromosome to its progeny in excess of the Mendelian frequency of 0.5. The k value is defined as the frequency of the SD chromosome recovered among progeny from such a male. This value has been shown ...

Transmission ratio distortion in mice

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Lyon, MF,  Annual Review of Genetics,  37:393-408. 2003.
The most studied example of transmission ratio distortion (TRD) in mice is that of the t-complex. This is a variant-region of Chromosome 17 which exists as a polymorphism in wild mice. Males heterozygous for a t-haplotype and a normal Chr 17 transmit-the t haplotype to >50% of ...

Closing the (Ran)GAP on segregation distortion in Drosophila

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Kusano, AS, C.; Chan, H. Y. E.; Ganetzky, B.,  Bioessays,  25:108-115. 2003.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a meiotic drive system in Drosophila that causes preferential transmission of the SD chromosome from SD/SD+ males owing to induced dysfunction of SD+ spermatids. Since its discovery in 1956, SD and its mode of action have baffled biologists. ...

Responder (Rsp) alleles in the Segregation Distorter (SD) system of meiotic drive in Drosophila may represent a complex family of satellite repeat sequences

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Houtchens, KL, T. W.,  Genetica,  117:291-302. 2003.
In D. melanogaster males carrying Segregation Distorter (SD) second chromosomes, sperm receiving sensitive alleles of the Responder (Rsp) locus are subject to high rates of dysfunction. The Rsp region is located in 2R immediately adjacent to the centromere in heterochromatic band ...

Four loci on abnormal chromosome 10 contribute to meiotic drive in maize

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Hiatt, END, R. K.,  Genetics,  164:699-709. 2003.
We provide a genetic analysis of the meiotic drive system on maize abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10) that causes preferential segregation of specific chromosomal regions to the reproductive megaspore. The data indicate that at least four chromosomal regions contribute to meiotic ...

The meiotic drive system on maize abnormal chromosome 10 contains few essential genes

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Hiatt, END, R. K.,  Genetica,  117:67-76. 2003.
In maize, a distal portion of abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10) causes the meiotic drive of itself as well as many unlinked heterochromatic regions known as knobs. The Ab10 drive system, which encodes trans- as well as cis-acting components, occupies a large region of chromosome 10L ...

Sexual transmission of the Het-s prion leads to meiotic drive in Poldospora anserina

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Dalstra, HJPS, K.; Debets, A. J. M.; Saupe, S. J.; Hoekstra, R. F.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  100:6616-6621. 2003.
In the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina, two phenomena are associated with polymorphism at the het-s locus, vegetative incompatibility and ascospore abortion. Two het-s alleles occur naturally, het-s and het-S. The het-s encoded protein is a prion propagating as a ...

Marcus Rhoades, preferential segregation and meiotic drive

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Birchler, JAD, R. K.; Doebley, J. F.,  Genetics,  164:835-841. 2003.
LONG before microarray biologists coined and promoted the term “discovery science,” maize geneticists were avid practitioners of this mode of investigation. In fact, one might say that for a number of years, the field of maize genetics basically operated as discovery science. ...

Reciprocal crossover asymmetry and meiotic drive in a human recombination hot spot

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Jeffreys, AJN, R.,  Nature Genetics,  31:267-271. 2002.
Human DNA diversity arises ultimately from germline mutation that creates new haplotypes that can be reshuffled by meiotic recombination. Reciprocal crossover generates recombinant haplotypes but should not influence the frequencies of alleles in a population. We demonstrate ...

X chromosome effect on maternal recombination and meiotic drive in the mouse

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de la Casa-Esperon, EL-O, J. C.; de Villena, F. P. M.; Briscoe, T. L.; Malette, J. M.; Vaughan, J. E.; Morgan, K.; Sapienza, C.,  Genetics,  161:1651-1659. 2002.
We observed that maternal meiotic drive favoring the inheritance of DDK alleles at the Om locus on mouse chromosome 11 was correlated with the X chromosome inactivation phenotype of (C57BL/6Pgk1(a) X DDK)F-1 mothers. The basis for this unexpected observation appears to lie in the ...

Does Stellate cause meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster?

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Belloni, MT, P.; Bozzetti, M. P.; Palumbo, G.; Robbins, L. G.,  Genetics,  161:1551-1559. 2002.
Drosophila melanogaster males deficient for the crystal (cry) locus of the Y chromosome that carry between 15 and 60 copies of the X-linked Stellate (Ste) gene are semisterile, have elevated levels of nondisjunction, produce distorted sperm genotype ratios (meiotic drive), and ...

Sperm competition and the dynamics of X chromosome drive: Stability and extinction

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Taylor, JEJ, J.,  Genetics,  160:1721-1731. 2002.
Several empirical studies of sperm competition in populations polymorphic for a driving X chromosome have revealed that Sex-ratio males (those carrying a driving X) are at a disadvantage relative to Standard males. Because the frequency of the driving X chromosome determines the ...

Segregation distortion induced by wild-type RanGAP in Drosophila

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Kusano, AS, C.; Ganetzky, B.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  99:6866-6870. 2002.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a meiotic drive system in Drosophila that causes preferential transmission of the SD chromosome from SD/SD+ males owing to the induced dysfunction of SD+ spermatids. The key distorter locus, Sid, is a dominant neomorphic allele encoding a truncated, ...

Meiotic drive alters sperm competitive ability in stalk-eyed flies

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Wilkinson, GSF, C. L.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  268:2559-2564. 2001.
Meiotic drive results when sperm carrying a driving chromosome preferentially survive development. Meiotic drive should therefore influence sperm competition because drive males produce fewer sperm than non-drive males. Whether meiotic drive also influences the competitive ...

Sex-ratio segregation distortion associated with reproductive isolation in Drosophila

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Tao, YH, D. L.; Laurie, C. C.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  98:13183-13188. 2001.
Sex-ratio distortion is the most common form of non-Mendelian segregation observed in natural populations. It may occur even more frequently than direct observations suggest, because the dysgenic population consequences of a biased sex ratio are expected to result in the rapid ...

Outcrossed sex allows a selfish gene to invade yeast populations

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Goddard, MRG, D.; Burt, A.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  268:2537-2542. 2001.
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) in eukaryotes are optional genes that have no obvious effect on host phenotype except for causing chromosomes not containing a cop), of the gene to be cut, thus causing them to be inherited at a greater than Mendelian rate via gene conversion. ...

Nonrandom segregation during meiosis: the unfairness of females

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de Villena, FPMS, C.,  Mammalian Genome,  12:331-339. 2001.
Most geneticists assume that chromosome segregation during meiosis is Mendelian (i.e., each allele at each locus is represented equally in the gametes). The great majority of reports that discuss non-Mendelian transmission have focused on systems of gametic selection, such as the ...

Transmission ratio distortion due to the bl gene in table beet

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Austin, DG, I. L.,  Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science,  126:340-343. 2001.
The bl gene conditions a blotchy phenotype (irregular sectors of red and white root color) in table beet (Beta vulgaris ssp, vulgaris). Segregation of the bl gene was found to be consistent with a single recessive gene, however, some evidence for a departure from a single gene ...

Co-existence of hosts and sex ratio distorters in structured populations

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Hatcher, MJD, A. M.; Tofts, C.,  Evolutionary Ecology Research,  2:185-205. 2000.
Vertically transmitted parasites occur in several invertebrate species, and alter host reproduction by a variety of mechanisms, including sex ratio distortion via feminization. Efficient feminizers are predicted to drive homogenous host populations extinct due to the absence of ...

Non-Mendelian segregation of sex chromosomes in heterospecific Drosophila males

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Dermitzakis, ETM, J. P.; Waldrip, H. M.; Clark, A. G.,  Genetics,  154:687-694. 2000.
Interspecific hybrids and backcrossed organisms generally suffer from reduced viability and/or fertility. To identify and genetically map these defects, we introgressed regions of the Drosophila sechellia genome into the D. simulans genome. A female-biased sex ratio was observed ...

A genetic test to determine the origin of maternal transmission ratio distortion: Meiotic drive at the mouse Om locus

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de Villena, FPMdlC-E, E.; Briscoe, T. L.; Sapienza, C.,  Genetics,  154:333-342. 2000.
We have shown previously that the progeny of crosses between heterozygous females and C57BL/G males show transmission ratio distortion at the Om locus on mouse chromosome 11. This result has been replicated in several independent experiments. Here we show that the distortion maps ...

Heritability of the maternal meiotic drive system linked to Om and high-resolution mapping of the Responder locus in mouse

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de Villena, FPMdlC-E, E.; Williams, J. W.; Malette, J. M.; Rosa, M.; Sapienza, C.,  Genetics,  155:283-289. 2000.
Matings between (C57BL/6 X DDK)F-1 females and C57BL/6 males result in a significant excess of offspring inheriting maternal DDK alleles in the central region of mouse chromosome 11 due to meiotic drive at the second meiotic division. We have shown previously that the locus ...

Sex-ratio meiotic drive in Drosophila simulans is related to equational nondisjunction of the Y chromosome

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Cazemajor, MJ, D.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.,  Genetics,  154:229-236. 2000.
The sex-ratio trait, an example of naturally occurring X-linked meiotic drive, has been reported in a dozen Drosophila species. Males carrying a sex-ratio X chromosome produce an excess of female offspring caused by a deficiency of Y-bearing sperm. In Drosophila simulans, such ...

Spore-killing meiotic drive factors in a natural population of the fungus Podospora anserina

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van der Gaag, MD, A. J. M.; Oosterhof, J.; Slakhorst, M.; Thijssen, Jagm; Hoekstra, R. F.,  Genetics,  156:593-605. 2000.
In fungi, meiotic drive is observed as spore killing. In the secondarily homothallic ascomycete Podospora anserina it is characterized by the abortion of two of the four spores in the ascus. We have identified seven different types of meiotic drive elements (Spore killers). Among ...

Chromosomally-induced meiotic drive in Drosophila males: Checkpoint or fallout?

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Tomkiel, JE,  Genetica,  109:95-103. 2000.
In male Drosophila melanogaster, anomalies in sex chromosome pairing at meiosis often lead to complete or partial sperm dysfunction. This observation has led to the suggestion that defects in either the efficiency or configuration of chromosome pairing at metaphase trigger a ...

Physical mapping of male fertility and meiotic drive quantitative trait loci in the mouse t complex using chromosome deficiencies

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Planchart, AY, Y.; Schimenti, J. C.,  Genetics,  155:803-812. 2000.
The t complex spans 20 cM of the proximal region of mouse chromosome 17. A variant form, the t haplotype (t), exists at significant frequencies in wild mouse populations and is characterized by the presence of inversions that suppress recombination with Mild-type (+) chromosomes. ...

A male-biased primary sex ratio and larval mortality in Eucheira socialis (Lepidoptera : Pieridae)

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Underwood, DLAS, A. M.,  Evolutionary Ecology Research,  1:703-717. 1999.
We investigated the sex ratio and sex-biased mortality in the Mexican pierid butterfly, Eucheira socialis westwoodi. We studied two populations between 1990 and 1997 along Mexico Highway 40, which runs from Mazatlan, Sinaloa to Durango, Durango, Populations occurring between km ...

Meiotic drive and evolution of female choice

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Reinhold, KE, L.; Misof, B.; Kurtz, J.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  266:1341-1345. 1999.
As a special version of the good-genes hypothesis, it was recently proposed that females could benefit from choosing drive-resistant males in a meiotic drive system. Here, we examine with a three-locus, six-allele population genetic model whether female choice for drive ...

Transmission ratio distortion in females on chromosome 10p11-p15

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Paterson, ADP, A.,  American Journal of Medical Genetics,  88:657-661. 1999.
A number of recent reports of linkage of markers on chromosome 10p to schizophrenia, and evidence for linkage in one study to bipolar affective disorder, provide encouragement for psychiatric genetics, after nonreplication of linkage findings at other chromosomal regions, The ...

Truncated RanGAP encoded by the Segregation Distorter locus of Drosophila

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Merrill, CB, L.; Kusano, A.; Ganetzky, B.,  Science,  283:1742-1745. 1999.
Segregation Distorter (SD) in Drosophila melanogaster is a naturally occurring meiotic drive system in which the SD chromosome is transmitted from SD/SD+ males in vast: excess over its homolog owing to the induced dysfunction of SD+-bearing spermatids. The Sd Locus is the key ...

Recurrent invasion and extinction of a selfish gene

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Goddard, MRB, A.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  96:13880-13885. 1999.
Homing endonuclease genes show super-Mendelian inheritance, which allows them to spread in populations even when they are of no benefit to the host organism. To test the idea that regular horizontal transmission is necessary for the long-term persistence of these genes, we ...

Are Drosophila SR drive chromosomes always balanced?

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Carvalho, ABV, S. C.,  Heredity,  83:221-228. 1999.
SR chromosomes are the best-known case of sex chromosome meiotic drive. These X chromosomes cause the production of female-biased progenies in several Drosophila species; Due to their meiotic drive advantage, they are expected to spread and become fixed, resulting in population ...

Evolution of driving X chromosomes and resistance factors in experimental populations of Drosophila simulans

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Capillon, CA, A.,  Evolution,  53:506-517. 1999.
Sex-ratio drive is a particular case of meiotic drive, described in several Drosophila species, that causes males bearing driving X chromosome to produce a large excess of females in their progeny. In Drosophila simulans, driving X chromosomes and resistance factors located on ...

Segregation distortion in a deme structured population: opposing demands of gene, individual and group selection

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van Boven, MW, F. J.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  12:80-93. 1999.
The evolution of segregation distortion is governed by the interplay of selection at different levels. Despite their systematic advantage at the gamete level, none of the well-known segregation distorters spreads to fixation since they induce severe negative fitness effects at ...

Meiotic drive favors Robertsonian metacentric chromosomes in the common shrew (Sorex araneus, Insectivora, Mammalia)

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Wyttenbach, AB, P.; Hausser, J.,  Cytogenetics and Cell Genetics,  83:199-206. 1998.
Meiotic drive has attracted much interest because it concerns the robustness of Mendelian segregation and its genetic and evolutionary stability. We studied chromosomal meiotic drive in the common shrew (Sorex araneus, Insectivora, Mammalia), which exhibits one of the most ...

Male eye span in stalk-eyed flies indicates genetic quality by meiotic drive suppression

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Wilkinson, GSP, D. C.; Crymes, L.,  Nature,  391:276-279. 1998.
In some species, females choose mates possessing ornaments that predict offspring survival(1-5). However, sexual selection by female preference for male genetic quality(6-8) remains controversial because conventional genetic mechanisms maintain insufficient variation in male ...

Male sterility and meiotic drive associated with sex chromosome rearrangements in Drosophila: Role of X-Y pairing

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McKee, BDW, K.; Merrill, C.; Ren, X. J.,  Genetics,  149:143-155. 1998.
In Drosophila melanogaster, deletions of the pericentromeric X heterochromatin cause X-Y nondisjunction, reduced male fertility and distorted sperm recovery ratios (meiotic drive) in combination with a normal Y chromosome and interact with Y-autosome translocations (T(Y;A)) to ...

Segregation distortion in myotonic dystrophy

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Magee, ACH, A. E.,  Journal of Medical Genetics,  35:1045-1046. 1998.
Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is an autosomal dominant disease which, in the typical pedigree, shows a three generation anticipation cascade. This results in infertility and congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM) with the disappearance of DM in that pedigree. The concept of segregation ...

Identification of the t complex-encoded cytoplasmic dynein light chain Tctex1 in inner arm I1 supports the involvement of flagellar dyneins in meiotic drive

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Harrison, AO-C, P.; King, S. M.,  Journal of Cell Biology,  140:1137-1147. 1998.
The cytoplasmic dynein light chain Tctex1 is a candidate for one of the distorter products involved in the non-Mendelian transmission of mouse t haplotypes. It has been unclear, however, how the t-specific mutations in this protein, which is found associated with cytoplasmic ...

Wolbachia as a possible means of driving genes into populations

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Curtis, CFS, S. P.,  Parasitology,  116:S111-S115. 1998.
Cytoplasmic incompatibility consists of sterility in cross matings, the crossing type being maternally inherited. It can be explained by the action of Wolbachia symbionts which are transmitted through the egg cytoplasm and leave an imprint on the sperm which prevents it ...

Localization of the genes controlling B chromosome transmission rate in maize (Zea mays ssp. mays, Poaceae)

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Chiavarino, AMR, M.; Rosi, P.; Poggio, L.; Naranjo, C. A.,  American Journal of Botany,  85:1581-1585. 1998.
In previous papers we found that the frequency of B chromosomes in native races of maize varies considerably in different populations. Moreover, we found genotypes that control high and low transmission rates (TR) of B chromosomes in the Pisingallo race. In the present work ...

Putting the brake on drive: meiotic drive of t haplotypes in natural populations of mice

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Ardlie, KG,  Trends in Genetics,  14:189-193. 1998.
Mouse t haplotypes are a 'selfish' form of chromosome 17 that show non-mendelian transmission from heterozygous +/t males. The considerable transmission bias in favour of t haplotypes should result in very high frequencies of these chromosomes in natural populations, but they ...

Polymorphism for Y-linked suppressors of sex-ratio in two natural populations of Drosophila mediopunctata

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Carvalho, ABV, S. C.; Klaczko, L. B.,  Genetics,  146:891-902. 1997.
In several Drosophila species there is a trait known as ''sex-ratio'': males carrying certain X chromosomes (called ''SR'') produce female biased progenies due to X-Y meiotic drive. In Drosophila mediopunctata this trait has a variable expression due to Y-linked suppressors of ...

Identification of a male meiosis-specific gene, Tcte2, which is differentially spliced in species that form sterile hybrids with laboratory mice and deleted in t chromosomes showing meiotic drive

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Braidotti, GB, D. P.,  Developmental Biology,  186:85-99. 1997.
Tcte2 (t complex testes expressed 2) is a male meiosis-specific gene that maps to band 3.3 of mouse chromosome 17. Two distinct male fertility defects, hybrid sterility and transmission ratio distortion, have previously been mapped to this region. Hybrid sterility arises in ...

The sex-ratio trait in Drosophila simulans: Geographical distribution of distortion and resistance

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Atlan, AM, H.; Landre, C.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.,  Evolution,  51:1886-1895. 1997.
The sex-ratio trait we describe here in Drosophila simulans results from X-linked meiotic drive. Males bearing a driving X chromosome can produce a large excess of females (about 90%) in their progeny. This is, however, rarely the case in the wild, where resistance factors, ...

Non-Mendelian transmission at the Machado-Joseph disease locus in normal females: Preferential transmission of alleles with smaller CAG repeats

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Rubinsztein, DCL, J.,  Journal of Medical Genetics,  34:234-236. 1997.
Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), also known as spinocerebellar ataxia type 3, is a neurodegenerative disorder which is associated with a CAG repeat expansion in the MJD1 gene on chromosome 14q32.1. A recent study reported an excess of transmission of disease chromosomes relative to ...

Sex chromosome meiotic drive in stalk-eyed flies

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Presgraves, DCS, E.; Wilkinson, G. S.,  Genetics,  147:1169-1180. 1997.
Meiotically driven sex chromosomes can quickly spread to fixation and cause population extinction unless balanced by selection or suppressed by genetic modifiers. We report results of genetic analyses that demonstrate that extreme female-biased sex ratios in two sister species of ...

Variation in Y chromosome meiotic drive in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae): a potential genetic approach to mosquito control

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OwusuDaaku, KOW, R. J.; Butler, R. D.,  Bulletin of Entomological Research,  87:617-623. 1997.
Reciprocal crosses between strains of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) from different geographical areas have revealed an unexpectedly complex pattern of holandrically inherited male biased sex ratios in F2. The variation has been interpreted in terms of a web of X-Y interactions in F1, ...

Selected lines of Aedes aegypti with persistently distorted sex ratios

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OwusuDaaku, KOW, R. J.; Butler, R. D.,  Heredity,  79:388-393. 1997.
A breeding scheme to isolate X chromosomes sensitive to drive by the T8 (Trinidad) Y chromosome of Aedes aegypti (the MD haplotype) is reported. Crosses with an Australian strain Th.I (Thursday Island) revealed not only sensitive and resistant X chromosomes but also some with the ...

Meiotic drive at the myotonic dystrophy and the cone-rod dystrophy loci on chromosome 19q13.3

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Inglehearn, CFG, C. Y.,  American Journal of Human Genetics,  60:1562-1563. 1997.
The apparently conflicting observations of a high new mutation rate at the myotonic dystrophy (DM) locus on chromosome 19q13.3 and of a founder effect for DM chromosomes led researchers to invoke the influence of meiotic drive at this locus. Two studies (Carey et al. 1994; ...

Competition between segregation distorters: Coexistence of ”superior” and ”inferior” haplotypes at the t complex

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vanBoven, MW, F. J.; Heg, D.; Huisman, J.,  Evolution,  50:2488-2498. 1996.
By means of population genetical models, we investigate the competition between sex-specific segregation distorters. Although the models are quite general, they are motivated by a specific example, the t complex of the house mouse. Some variants at this gene complex, the t ...

Genetic control of B chromosome transmission rate in Zea mays ssp mays (Poaceae)

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Rosato, MC, A. M.; Naranjo, C. A.; Puertas, M. J.; Poggio, L.,  American Journal of Botany,  83:1107-1112. 1996.
We selected genotypes of high and low B chromosome transmission rate (TR) in a native race of maize (Pisingallo) from northwest Argentina. We made 20 female 0B x male 1B and 20 f.1B x m.0B crosses. The former (G0m) showed a large variation of B TR, with a mean of TR +/- SE = 0.52 ...

Measuring meiotic drive

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Robbins, LGP, G.; Bonaccorsi, S.; Pimpinelli, S.,  Genetics,  142:645-647. 1996.
LAURENCE HURST’S (1996) letter re-examines our data on the effect of Stellate copy number on the meiotic parameters of Mystal- (= su(ste)-) males (PALUMBO et al. 1994). In our analysis, we found a tight correlation of fertility and disjunction with Stellate copy number, with ...

Meiotic drive in fungi: Chromosomal elements that cause fratricide and distort genetic ratios

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Raju, NB,  Journal of Genetics,  75:287-296. 1996.
Fungal Spore killers (Sk), studied most extensively in Neurospora and to a lesser extent in Podospora, Gibberella and Cochliobolus, cause the death of ascospores (= meiospores) that do not contain the killer (Sk(K)) element. When a Spore killer is heterozygous (Sk(K) x Sk(S)) in ...

Epistatic control of non-mendelian inheritance in mouse interspecific crosses

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Montagutelli, XT, R.; Nadeau, J. H.,  Genetics,  143:1739-1752. 1996.
Strong deviation of allele frequencies from Mendelian inheritance favoring Mus spretus-derived alleles has been described previously for X-linked loci in four mouse interspecific crosses. We reanalyzed data for three of these crosses focusing on the location of the gene(s) ...

Further evidence consistent with Stellate’s involvement in meiotic drive

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Hurst, LD,  Genetics,  142:641-643. 1996.
STELLATE is an X-linked multicopy gene found in Drosophila melanogaster and is one of the most bizarre gene arrays yet described (for details see HARDY et al. 1984; LIVAK 1984, 1990; DANILEVSKAYA et al. 1991; BAW~REVA et al. 1992; SHEVELYOV 1992; PALUMBO et al. 1994). The ...

Segregation distortion of the CTG repeats at the myotonic dystrophy locus

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Chakraborty, RS, D. N.; Deka, R.; Yu, L. M.; Shriver, M. D.; Ferrell, R. E.,  American Journal of Human Genetics,  59:109-118. 1996.
Myotonic dystrophy (DM), an autosomal dominant neuromuscular disease, is caused by a CTG-repeat expansion, with affected individuals having greater than or equal to 50 repeats of this trinucleotide, at the DMPK locus of human chromosome 19q13.3. Severely affected individuals die ...

The inheritance of B chromosomes in Allium schoenoprasum L

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Bougourd, SMP, A. B.,  Chromosome Research,  4:151-158. 1996.
The inheritance of B chromosomes has been investigated in Allium schoenoprasum from the River Wye, Powys; controlled crosses between plants of known B chromosome constitution were carried out, and the numbers of Bs present in the progenies scored. There was considerable ...

Low frequency of mouse t haplotypes in wild populations is not explained by modifiers of meiotic drive

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Ardlie, KGS, L. M.,  Genetics,  144:1787-1797. 1996.
t haplotypes are naturally occurring forms of mouse chromosome 17 that show non-Mendelian transmission from heterozygous +/t males. In laboratory studies, transmission ratios of greater than or equal to 0.90 or higher are typically observed. With transmission ratios of this ...

Sex-ratio distortion in Drosophila simulans – cooccurrence of a meiotic drive and a suppressor of drive

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Mercot, HA, A.; Jacques, M.; Montchampmoreau, C.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  8:283-300. 1995.
A sex-ratio distortion factor was found at high frequency in D. simulans strains from Seychelles and New Caledonia. This factor is poorly or not expressed within those strains which are resistant to it. Its presence was detected by crossing females from New Caledonia or the ...

Meiotic drive an Myotonic Dystrophy – Reply

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Carey, NJ, K.; Nokelainen, P.; Peltonen, L.; Savontaus, M. L.; Juvonen, V.; Anvret, M.; Grandell, U.; Chotai, K.; Robertson, E.; Middletonprice, H.; Malcolm, S.,  Nature Genetics,  10:133-133. 1995.
Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is a trinucleotide disorder and in sub-clinical individuals there is considerable variation in the length of the CTG repeat. Two groups have recently analysed the patterns of segregation of different sized alleles at this locus and both report an excess of ...

Ascoycete spore killers: Chromosomal elements that distort genetic ratios among the products of meiosis

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Raju, NB,  Mycologia,  86:461-473. 1994.
Spore killers (Sk), studied most extensively in Neurospora, are also known in Podospora, Gibberella and Cochliobolus. Spore killers are no doubt present in natural populations of other fungi. Criteria are outlined here for recognizing their presence and distinguishing them from ...

Characterization of 2 Segregation Distorter revertants: Evidence that the tandem duplication is necessary for SD activity in Drosophila melanogaster

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Palopoli, MFD, P.; Wu, C. I.,  Genetics,  136:209-215. 1994.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a naturally occurring system of meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster. Males heterozygous for an SD second chromosome and a normal homolog (SD+) transmit predominantly SD-bearing sperm. To accomplish this, the Segregation distorter (Sd) locus ...

Functional identification of the Segregation Distorter locus of Drosophila melanogaster by germline transformation

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McLean, JRM, C. J.; Powers, P. A.; Ganetzky, B.,  Genetics,  137:201-209. 1994.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a meiotic drive system in D. melanogaster that results in the failure of SD/SD+ males to transmit SD+ homologs owing to the induced dysfunction of spermatids carrying the normal chromosome. Segregation distorter (Sd), the gene primarily responsible ...

Selfish DNA as method of pest control

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Hastings, IM,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  344:313-324. 1994.
The inheritance of most genes is tightly controlled, governed by the rules of mendelian inheritance if nuclear or uniparental inheritance if cytoplasmic. A few notable genes and cytoplasmic genomes have escaped this regulation. Such genes may spread by increasing their own rate ...

Meiotic drive at the myotonic dystrophy locus

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Gennarelli, MD, B.; Baiget, M.; Martorell, L.; Novelli, G.,  Journal of Medical Genetics,  31:980-980. 1994.
The mutation underlying myotonic dystrophy (DM, MIM* 160900) is the expansion of a CTG trinucleotide repeat sequence at the 3' untranslated region of a protein kinase gene (MT-PK).' The kinetics of this process is influenced by the sex of the transmitting parent and size of the ...

Y-linked suppressors of the sex-ratio trait in Drosophila mediopunctata

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Decarvalho, ABK, L. B.,  Heredity,  73:573-579. 1994.
X-linked meiotic drive causing female-biased progenies is known to occur in nine Drosophila species and is called 'sex-ratio'. In D. mediopunctata this trait is associated with the X:21 chromosome inversion and has variable expression. We describe here a powerful Y-linked ...

The evolution of lethals in the t-haplotype system of the mouse

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Charlesworth, B,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  258:101-107. 1994.
The evolution of lethal haplotypes in the t-haplotype segregation distortion system of Mus is examined by mathematical and computer models. The models assume that there is reproductive compensation for the loss of lethal embryos, such that the net reproductive success of a female ...

The Segregation Distorter (SD) complex and the accumulation of deleterious genes in laboratory strains of Drosophila melanogaster

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Dominguez, AS, E.; Albornoz, J.; Gutierrez, A.,  Theoretical and Applied Genetics,  87:479-486. 1993.
Segregation Distorter (SD) associated with the second chromosome of D. melanogaster is found in nature at equilibrium frequencies lower than 5%. We report extremely high frequencies of SD (30-50%) in two selected strains, established in 1976, and show it to be responsible for the ...

Autosomal suppressors of sex-ratio in Drosophila mediopunctata

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Decarvalho, ABK, L. B.,  Heredity,  71:546-551. 1993.
The sex-ratio trait has been described as the production of progenies with excess of females due to X-linked meiotic drive in the parental males. This trait has a variable expression in Drosophila mediopunctata. We describe here the existence and chromosomal localization of ...

Didymium iridis reproductive systems: Additions and meiotic drive

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Clark, JL, J. C.,  Mycologia,  85:764-768. 1993.
Three heterothallic Mexican isolates (Mex 1, Mex 2, and Mex 3) of Didymium iridis belong to the reproductively isolated A5 mating series of this morphospecies. This was unexpected in that the sole previous A5 isolate was from Georgia and the Mexican isolates were collected in ...

Deletion analysis of the selfish B-chromosome, Paternal Sex-Ratio (PSR), in the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis

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Beukeboom, LWW, J. H.,  Genetics,  133:637-648. 1993.
Paternal Sex Ratio (PSR) is a ''selfish'' B chromosome in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. It is transmitted via sperm, but causes supercondensation and destruction of the paternal chromosomes in early fertilized eggs. Because this wasp has haplodiploid sex determination, ...

Transmission and expression of the parasitic Paternal Sex-Ratio (PSR) chromosome

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Beukeboom, LWW, J. H.,  Heredity,  70:437-443. 1993.
B-chromosomes are often considered genomic parasites. They are extra to the normal chromosomal complement, are unnecessary for survival of an individual, and are often inherited at higher than Mendelian rates. Paternal Sex Ratio (PSR) is an extreme example of a parasitic ...

The peculiar journey of a selfish chromosome: Mouse t-haplotypes and meiotic drive

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Silver, LM,  Trends in Genetics,  9:250-254. 1993.
Mouse t haplotypes are descendents of a variant form of chromosome 17 that evolved the ability to propagate itself at the expense of the wild-type homolog from heterozygous +/t males. Although once enigmatic, these widespread selfish chromosomes have revealed many of their ...

Evolutionary dynamics of spore killers

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Nauta, MJH, R. F.,  Genetics,  135:923-930. 1993.
Spore killing in ascomycetes is a special form of segregation distortion. When a strain with the Killer genotype is crossed to a Sensitive type, spore killing is expressed by asci with only half the number of ascospores as usual, all surviving ascospores being of the Killer type. ...

Cheaters sometimes prosper: Distortion of Mendelian segregation by meiotic drive

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Lyttle, TW,  Trends in Genetics,  9:205-210. 1993.
Two of Mendel's three laws were quickly discarded as information on the organization and transmission of genes accumulated at the beginning of this century, but bis law of segregation has shown remarkable staying power. In fact, within most of population genetic theory for sexual ...

The evolution of unusual chromosomal systems in coccoids: Extraordinary sex-ratios revisited

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Haig, D,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  6:69-77. 1993.
Coccoids (scale insects) exhibit a wide variety of chromosomal systems. In many species, paternal chromosomes are eliminated from the male germline such that all of a male's sperm transmit an identical set of maternal chromosomes. In such species, an offspring's sex is determined ...

Evolution of the mouse t-haplotype – Recent and worldwide introgression to Mus musculus

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Morita, TK, H.; Murata, K.; Nozaki, M.; Delarbre, C.; Willison, K.; Satta, Y.; Sakaizumi, M.; Takahata, N.; Gachelin, G.; Matsushiro, A.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  89:6851-6855. 1992.
Mouse t haplotypes are variants of chromosome 17, consisting of four inversions. Despite the homozygous lethality and pleiotropic effect on embryonic development, sperm production, and recombination, they have widely spread in natural populations of the house mouse (10-40% in ...

Population genetics of a parasitic chromosome – Experimental analysis of PSR in subdivided populaltions

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Beukeboom, LWW, J. H.,  Evolution,  46:1257-1268. 1992.
Nasonia vitripennis is a parasitoid wasp that harbors several non-Mendelian sex-ratio distorters. These include MSR (Maternal Sex Ratio), a cytoplasmic element that causes nearly all-female families, and PSR (Paternal Sex Ratio), a supernumerary chromosome that causes all-male ...

Effects of deletions on mitotic stability of the Paternal Sex-Ratio (PSR) chromosome from Nasonia

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Beukeboom, LWR, K. M.; Werren, J. H.,  Chromosoma,  102:20-26. 1992.
Paternal-Sex-Ratio (PSR) is a B chromosome that causes all-male offspring in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. It is only transmitted via sperm of carrier males and destroys the other paternal chromosomes during the first mitotic division of the fertilized egg. Because of ...

Genetic scrambling as a defense against meiotic drive

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Haig, DG, A.,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  153:531-558. 1991.
Genetic recombination has important consequences, including the familiar rules of Mendelian genetics. Here we present a new argument for the evolutionary function of recombination based on the hypothesis that meiotic drive systems continually arise to threaten the fairness of ...

Meiotic drive in Lucilia cuprina and chromosomal evolution

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Foster, GGW, M. J.,  American Naturalist,  137:403-415. 1991.
In females heterozygous for pericentric inversions that alter the relative lengths of the long and short arms of a chromosome, crossing-over within the inversion can lead to unequal segregation at anaphase II, favoring the homologue with the more centrally located centromere. It ...

X-chromosome segregation distortion in Drosophila

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Curtsinger, JW,  American Naturalist,  137:344-348. 1991.
The sex-ratio trait exhibits both discrete and continuous variation in Drosophila pseudoobscura. The discrete variation is caused by X-chromosome meiotic drive. The evolutionary forces maintaining the meiotic-drive polymorphism include strong viability selection against ...

Sex-ratio distortion caused by meiotic drive in mosquitos

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Wood, RJN, M. E.,  American Naturalist,  137:379-391. 1991.
Meiotic-drive genes have been described in two species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. In both species, a Y (M)-linked gene causes a change in sex ratio in favor of males. More is known about the Distorter gene (D) in A. aegypti, but the gene in C. ...

Why is Mendelian segregation so exact

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Crow, JF,  Bioessays,  13:305-312. 1991.
The precise 1:1 segregation of Mendelian heredity is ordinarily taken for granted, yet there are numerous examples of 'cheating' genes that perpetuate themselves in the population by biasing the Mendelian process in their favor. One example is the Segregation Distortion system of ...

Male sex-ratio trait in Drosophila pseudoobscura: Frequency of autosomal aneuploid sperm

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Cobbs, GJ, L.; Gordon, L.,  Genetics,  127:381-390. 1991.
Males with the SR X chromosome show the "sex-ratio" (sr) phenotype in which they produce almost entirely daughters. The few sons (about 1%) are invariably sterile X/O males and result entirely from nullo-XY sperm. The "male-sex-ratio" (msr) phenotype is a modified form of sr in ...

The paternal-sex-ratio chromosome of Nasonia

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Werren, JH,  American Naturalist,  137:392-402. 1991.
Paternal sex ratio (PSR) is a supernumerary chromosome that is transmitted through sperm to fertilized eggs and then gains a transmission advantage by causing supercondensation of the paternal chromosomes (except itself). Because of haplodiploidy, this converts diploid females ...

Sex ratio polymorphism in Drosophila pseudoobscura

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Beckenbach, AT,  American Naturalist,  137:340-343. 1991.
I studied "sex-ratio" (SR) genotype frequencies in two populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura from southeastern Arizona: Bear Creek Canyon and Tucson. Wild-inseminated females were collected, their fecundities measured in the laboratory, and their SR genotypes inferred by ...

Meiotic drive of t-haplotypes – chromosome segregation in mice with tertiary trisomy

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Agulnik, AIA, S. I.; Ruvinsky, A. O.,  Genetical Research,  57:51-54. 1991.
The properties of the t haplotypes, specific mutant states of the proximal region of chromosomes 17 in the house mouse, are of continuing interest. One such property is increased transmission of the t haplotype by heterozygous t/+ males to offspring. Using the reciprocal ...

Segregation distortion in Drosophila melanogaster: Genetic and molecular analysis

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Temin, RGG, B.; Powers, P. A.; Lyttle, T. W.; Pimpinelli, S.; Dimitri, P.; Wu, C. I.; Hiraizumi, Y.,  American Naturalist,  137:287-331. 1991.
The Segregation Distorter (SD) complex in the centromeric region of chromosome 2 in Drosophila melanogaster is responsible for a naturally occurring and strong system of male meiotic drive. Earlier recombinational dissection and deletional analysis showed that the SD complex ...

Expression of meiotic drive elements Spore Killer-2 and Spore Killer-3 in asci of Neurospora tetrasperma

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Raju, NBP, D. D.,  Genetics,  129:25-37. 1991.
It was shown previously that when a chromosomal Spore killer factor is heterozygous in Neurospora species with eight-spored asci, the four sensitive ascospores in each ascus die and the four survivors are all killers. Sk-2K and Sk-3K are nonrecombining haplotypes that segregate ...

Meiotic drive of t haplotypes: chromosome segregation in mice with tertiary trisomy

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Agulnik, AIA, Sergei I.; Ruvinsky, Anatoly O.,  Genetics Research,  57:51. 1991.
The properties of the / haplotypes, specific mutant states of the proximal region of chromosomes17 in the house mouse, are of continuing interest. One such property is increased transmission ofthe / haplotype by heterozygous // + males to offspring. Using ...

On the components of Segregation Distortion in Drosophila melanogaster 5: Molecular analysis of the SD locus

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Powers, PAG, B.,  Genetics,  129:133-144. 1991.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is a naturally occurring meiotic drive system comprising at least three distinct loci: Sd, Rsp and E(SD). Heterozygous SD/SD+ males transmit the SD chromosome in vast excess over the normal homolog. The distorted transmission involves the induced ...

X-Y pairing, meiotic drive and ribosomal DNA in Drosophila melanogaster males

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McKee, BD,  American Naturalist,  137:332-339. 1991.
One of the genotypic features responsible for sex-chromosome meiotic drive and sterility in Drosophila melanogaster males has now been defined clearly. Separation of a significant fraction of X euchromatin from the X pairing site causes either meiotic drive or sterility, ...

The Genetic Basis of Transmission-Ratio Distortion and Male Sterility Due to the t Complex

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Lyon, MF,  American Naturalist,  137:349-358. 1991.
The abnormal transmission ratios observed in male mice heterozygous for a complete t haplotype have been shown by breeding studies to be due to three or more distorter genes acting on a responder gene. The action of the t form of the responder is relatively resistant to this ...

Behavioral reduction in the transmission of deleterious t-haplotypes by wild house mice

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Lenington, SH, I. L.,  The American Naturalist,  137:366-378. 1991.
About 25% of wild house mice are heterozygous (+/t) for a variable recessive haplotype of the T locus. Although t haplotypes are highly deleterious when homozygous, they are maintained in wild mouse populations because they are associated with transmission-ratio distortion in ...

Sex-ratio meiotic drive in Drosophila testacea

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James, ACJ, J.,  Genetics,  126:651-656. 1990.
We document the occurrence of "sex ratio" meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila testacea. "Sex ratio" males sire greater than 95% female offspring. Genetic analysis reveals that this effect is due to a meiotically driven X chromosome, as in other species of ...

Rapid spread of transposable P elements in experimental populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

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A. G. Good, G. A. Meister, H. W. Brock, T. A. Grigliatti and D. A. Hickey,  Genetics,  1223:387-396. 1989.
The invasion of P elements in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster was modeled by establishing laboratory populations with 1 %, 5% and 10% P genomes and monitoring the populations for 20 generations. In one experiment, the ability of flies to either induce or suppress ...

Genetics-driving genes and chromosomes

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Charlesworth, B,  Nature,  332:394-395. 1988.
Thereare several genetic and chromosomal systems in which Mendel's first law - the equal probability of transmission of maternal and paternal alternative alleles or homologues - is violated. This phenomenon was named 'meiotic drive' in 1957 by Sandler and Novitski, who drew ...

Methods for replacement of malaria vector populations

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Curtis, CFG, P. M.,  American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,  91:43-48. 1988.
The prospects are reviewed of replacement of malaria vector populations by harmless mosquito populations by means of: (i) ecologically competitive non-vector species; (ii) natural selection due to the harmfulness of being infected; (iii) selection for insecticide resistance ...

Thte genetic basis of resistance and sensitivity to the meiotic drive gene D in the mosquito Aedes aegypti L.

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Wood, RJO, N. A.,  Genetica,  72:69-79. 1987.
A study has been made on the genetic basis of meiotic drive at the Distorter (D) locus which, in coupling with the male-determining gene (or region) M on the Y chromosome, causes production of excess male progeny. Its effect is regulated by the sensitivity/resistance of the X ...

Abnormal salivary gland puff associated with meiotic drive in mosquitos (Diptera, Culicidae)

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Sweeny, TLG, P.; Barr, A. R.,  Journal of Medical Entomology,  24:623-627. 1987.
A meiotic drive factor, distorter (d), has been described previously for Culex pipiens L. mosquitoes. Males homozygous for the gene (Md/md) produce few female offspring owing to breakage of the female-determining dyad of chromosome 1 (the sex chromosome) during the first meiotic ...

Control of meiotic drive of B-chromosomes in the mealybug, Pseudococcus affinis (obscurus)

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Nur, UB, B. L. H.,  Genetics,  115:499-510. 1987.
Isofemale lines of Pseudococcus affznis (MASKELL) differ in their ability to maintain B chromosomes (Bs) due to the presence of genotypes that affect the rate of transmission (k) of the Bs. The nature of these genotypes was analyzed by comparing ks of males carrying the same B ...

X-4 Translocation and meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster males: Role of sex chromosome pairing

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McKee, B,  Genetics,  116:409-413. 1987.
Males carrying certain X-4 translocations exhibit strongly skewed sperm recovery ratios. The Xp4D half of the translocation disjoins regularly from the Y chromosome and the 4‘XD half disjoins regularly from the normal 4. Yet the smaller member of each bivalent is recovered in ...

Meiotic drive in the sex-chromosome system of the varying lemming, Dicrostonyx torquatus Pall (Rodentia, Microtinae)

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Gileva, EA,  Heredity,  59:383-389. 1987.
In the varying lemming, numerous fertile XY females occur regularly due to the X-linked mutation (X*). Their frequency both in natural populations and laboratory colonies turned out to be about twice higher than that expected under random segregation of heterochromosomes in both ...

Detection of Rsp and modifier variation in the meiotic drive system Segregation Distorter (SD) of Drosophila melanogaster

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Lyttle, TWB, J. G.; Ganetzky, B.,  Genetics,  114:183-202. 1986.
Identification of allelic variability at the two major loci (Sd and Rsp) that interact to cause sperm dysfunction in Segregation distorter (SD) males of D. melanogaster has been hampered by the difficulty in separating the elements recombinationally. In addition, small ...

Tthe genetic control of meiotic drive acting on the B-chromosome of Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Orthoptera, Aacrididae)

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Shaw, MWH, G. M.,  Heredity,  54:187-194. 1985.
Crosses between populations with and without B-chromosomes were made, and backcrossed to the non B parent for two generations. No polygenic differences in male or female meiotic transmission were found, but a modifier of meiotic drive segregated in the experiment, drastically ...

Genotypes suppressing meiotic drive of a B-chromosome in the mealybug, Pseudococcus obscurus

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Nur, UB, B. L. H.,  Genetics,  110:73-92. 1985.
The rate of transmission (k) of a supernumerary B chromosome in male mealybugs is shown tq depend strongly on the chromosome set of materpal origin. When both parents came from an isofemale line in which the frequency of the B chromosome increased rapidly and stabilized at a mean ...

Sex-chromosome meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster males

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McKee, B,  Genetics,  106:403-422. 1984.
In Drosophila melanogaster males, deficiency for X heterochromatin causes high X-Y nondisjunction and skewed sex chromosome segregation ratios (meiotic drive). Y and XY classes are recovered poorly because of sperm dysfunction. In this study it was found that X heterochromatic ...

The fate of autosomeal modifiers of the sex-ratio trait in Drosophila and other sex-linked meiotic drive systems.

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Wu, CI,  Theoretical Population Biology,  24:107-120. 1983.
A model is proposed to analyze the behavior of autosomal suppressor modifiers of "Sex-Ratio" meiotic drive in drosophila. These modifiers, if neutral in fitness, are expected to increase because they tend to be associated with the rare sex (males). However, selection operating on ...

Meiotic drive at the D(MD) locus and fertility in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti (L)

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Youngson, JW, H. M.; Wood, R. J.,  Genetica,  54:335-340. 1981.
The Distorter gene D in Aedes aegypti shows meiotic drive when associated with the male determining M gene, causing sex ratio distortion in favour of males. The fertility of Distorter (MD /ms) and normal (M/m-) males has been compared after mating them to a series of 20 females ...

Experimental population-genetics of meiotic drive systems .3: Neutralization of sex-ratio distortion in Drosophila through sex-chromosome aneuploidy

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Lyttle, TW,  Genetics,  98:317-334. 1981.
Laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster were challenged by; pseudo-Y drive, which mimics true Y-chromosome meiotic drive through the; incorporation of Segregation Distorter (SD) in a T(Y;2) complex. This causes; extreme sex-ratio distrotion and can ultimately lead to ...

Combining the meiotic drive gene-D and the translocation T-1 in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti(L) .2: Recombination

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Pearson, AMW, R. J.,  Genetica,  54:79-85. 1980.
Recombination on the sex-chromosome of Aedes aegypti has been studied in male genotypes incorporating the sex-linked translocation T1 and the meiotic drive gene D from three different strains (Trinidad, Bozo and Caracas).

Combining the meiotic drive gene-D and the translocation-T1 in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti (L) .1: Sex-ratio distortion and fertility

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Pearson, AMW, R. J.,  Genetica,  51:203-210. 1980.
Sex-ratio distortion has been investigated in males carrying the Y(M)-linked meiotic-drive gene D, from three different strains (Bozo, Caracas and Trinidad), paired with Chipei X-chromosomes highly sensitive to D. The effect of D was tested on its own and also associated with a ...

Experimental population-genetics of meiotic drive systems .2: Accumulation of genetic modifiers of Segregation Distorter (SD) in laboratory populations

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Lyttle, TW,  Genetics,  91:339-357. 1979.
The accumulation of modifiers of the meiotic-drive locus Segregation; Distorter (SD) in Drosophila melanogaster was monitored by measuring the; changes in the mean and variance of drive strength (in terms of “make” value); that occur in laboratory populations when SD and SD+ ...

Sex-ratio trait in Drosophila pseudoobscura – Fertility relations of males and meiotic drive.

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Beckenbach, AT,  American Naturalist,  112:97-117. 1978.
In the early analysis of the "sex-ratio" polymorphism (SR) of Drosophila pseudoobscura, complete meiotic drive was assumed, and study centered on the nature of the selective forces opposing its spread. Policansky and Ellison (1970) found that the mechanism of SR involved the ...

Transporting marker gene re (red eye) into a laboratory cage population of Aedes aegypti (Diptera Culicidae), using meiotic drive at MD locus

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Wood, RJC, L. M.; Hamilton, A.; Whitelaw, A.,  Journal of Medical Entomology,  14:461-464. 1978.
An attempt has.been made to use the meiotic drive gene MD to transport a marker re (red eye) into a laboaratory population of the mosquito Aedes aegypti. The experiment produced an increase in re frequency, but also indicated that this gene has unexpectedly high fitness in the ...

Sex ratio distortion caused by meiotic drive in a mosquito Culex pipiens

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Sweeny, TLB, A. R.,  Genetics,  88:427-446. 1978.
A genetic factor, distorter (d), has been discovered that upsets the normal sex ratio of 1 : 1 and results in a large excess of males in Culex pipiens. The effect can be explained by a sex-linked, recessive gene. Males homozygous for the gene (Md/md) produce few female offspring; ...

Transporting marker gene re (red eye) into a laboratory cage population of Aedes-aegypti (Diptera Culicidae), using meiotic drive at MD locus

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R. J. Wood, L. M. Cook, A. Hamilton and A. Whitelaw,  Journal of Medical Entomology,  14:461-464. 1977.
An attempt has been made to use the meiotic drive gene MD to transport a marker re (redeye) into a laboratory population of the mosquito Aedes aegypti. The experiment produced an increase in re frequency, but also indicated that this gene has unexpectedly high fitness in the ...

Resistance to meiotic drive at MD locus in an Indian wild population of Aedes aegypti

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Suguna, SGW, R. J.; Curtis, C. F.; Whitelaw, A.; Kazmi, S. J.,  Genetical Research,  29:123-132. 1977.
Females from an Indian wild population of Aedes aegypti were crossed to males carrying the sex ratio distorter factor MB which shows meiotic drive. Progenies from ¥1 males were tested for sex ratio distortion, i.e. the chromosomes from the wild females were screened for their ...

Experimental population-genetics of meiotic drive systems .1: Pseudo-Y chromosomal drive as a means of eliminating cage populations of Drosophila melanogaster

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Lyttle, TW,  Genetics,  86:413-445. 1977.
The experimental population genetics of Y-chromosome drive in Drosophila; melanogasier is approximated by studying the behavior of T(Y;S),SD lines.; These exhibit “pseudo-Y” drive through the effective coupling of the Y chromosome; to the second chromosome meiotic drive ...

Between family variation in sex-ratio in Trinidad (T-30) strain of Aedes-aegypti (L) indicating differences in sensitivity to meiotic drive gene MD

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Wood, RJ,  Genetica,  46:345-361. 1976.
Sex ratio in the Trinidad (T-30) strain of Aedes aegypti has remained constant at around 43%? during seventeen years of laboratory culture. The divergence from 50% is due to meiotic drive by the MD gene on the Y chromosome. The driving Y chromosome gives a much more distorted sex ...

Population genetics of modifiers of meiotic drive.3. Equilibrium analysis of a gneral model for genetic control of segregation distortion

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Thomson, GJF, M. W.,  Theoretical Population Biology,  10:8-25. 1976.
Prout, Bungaard and Bryant (1973, Theor. Popul. Biol. 4, 446–465) presented the first formal treatment of a model of meiotic drive involving a modifier locus which controls the intensity of drive. They studied the equilibrium behavior in the simplest model where it is assumed ...

Evidence for autosomal meiotic drive in the butterfly Danaus chrysippus L.

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Smith, DAS,  Heredity,  36:139-142. 1976.
Danaus chrysippus (Danaidae) in East Africa is highly polymorphic for colour, the genetic control of which resides at three loci. The B locus has two alleles, B giving a nutbrown ground colour and bb orange on both fore and hindwings. The C locus determines forewing pattern: ...

Cytogenetic analysis of meiotic drive in mosquito, Aedes aegypti

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Newton, MEW, R. J.; Southern, D. I.,  Genetica,  46:297-318. 1976.
Meiotic drive in Aedes aegypti (L.) is shown by a Giemsa C-banding technique to be associated with. preferential isochromatid breakage of the X chromosome during male meiosis. These breaks remain open at least until anaphase-I and, since the range of cells affected is ...

Meiotic drive for B-chromosomes in primary oocytes of Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Orthoptera-Acrididae)

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Hewitt, GM,  Chromosoma,  56:381-391. 1976.
Using a modified technique which allowed observation of chromosome orientation in the primary oocyte of grasshoppers at the onset of anaphase, it has been possible to establish that the B-chromosome is distributed preferentially on the egg side of the metaphase plate rather than ...

Sex-chromosome meiotic drive systems in Drosophila melanogaster .1: Abnormal spermatid development in males with a heterochromatin-deficient X-chromosome (sc4sc8)

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Peacock, WJM, G. L. G.; Goodchild, D. J.,  Genetics,  79:613-634. 1975.
The meiotic drive characteristics of the In(1)sc4Lsc8R/Y system have been examined by genetic analysis and by light and electron microscopy. sc4sc8/Y males show a direct correlation between nondisjunction frequency and meiotic drive. Temperature-shift experiments reveal that the ...

Modifier theory of meiotic drive

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Hartl, DL,  Theoretical Population Biology,  7:168-174. 1975.
The evolutionary fate of rare modifiers of recessive lethal segregation distorters has been studied. Suppressors or partial suppressors will always increase in frequency. Enhancers will increase in frequency if linkage is sufficiently tight and be lost if linkage is sufficiently ...

Sex-ration, meiotic drive, and group selectin in Drosophila pseudoobscura

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Policansky, D,  American Naturalist,  108:75-90. 1974.
Sex ratio (SR) is a widespread genetic condition of the X-chromosome in Drosophila species which causes males to produce progenies consisting almost entirely of females. Results of samples from natural populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura and results of some laboratory ...

Population replacement in Culex fatigens by means of cytoplasmic incompatibility. Laboratory experiments with non-overlapping generations

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C. F. Curtis and T. Adak,  Bulletin of the World Health Organization,  51:249-255. 1974.
Bidirectional cytoplasmic incompatibility in the Culex pipiens complex appears to provide a mechanism for the replacement of a wild population by a strain refractory to filaria or a strain made partly sterile by a translocation. As a preliminary test of the feasibility of the ...

Multiple meiotic drive systems in Drosophila melanogaster male

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Miklos, GLGY, A. F.; Peacock, W. J.,  Genetics,  72:105-115. 1972.
The behaviour of two "meiotic drive" systems, Segregation-Distorter (SD) and the sex chromosome sc4sc8 has been examined in the same meiocyte. It has been found that the two systems interact in a specific way. When the distorting effects of SD and sc4sc8 are against each other, ...

Analysis of a general population genetic model of meiotic drive

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Hartl, DL,  Evolution,  24:538-545. 1970.
The purpose of this article is to present the detailed solution of a model of meiotic drive which Lewontin (1968) has suggested would be helpful in understanding the evo- lutionary dynamics of the t-alleles in the house mouse. Because mice tend to breed in small endogamous family ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster 9: Suppressors of segregation distorter in wild populations

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Hartl, DL,  Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology,  12:594-600. 1970.
A population of Drosophila melanogaster in Madison, Wisconsin, has been screened for suppressors of segregation distorter (SD), an autosomal meiotic drive element found in the same population. Three kinds of suppressors were tested for: (1) Y-linked suppressors, none were found, ...

Extraordinary sex ratios

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W. D. Hamilton,  Science,  156:477-488. 1967.
The two sexes are usually produced in approximately equal numbers. Fisher (1) was the first to explain why, under natural selection, this should be so, irrespective of the particular mechanism of sex determination. His rather tersely expressed argument has been clarified by ...

Genetic distortion of sex ratio in a mosquito Aedes aegypti

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Hickey, WAC, G. B.,  Genetics,  53:1177-1196. 1966.
CRAIG, HICKEY and VANDEHEY (1960) reported that a hereditary factor transmitted by males was responsible for high male ratios in A. aegypti. This phenomenon was designated as male-producing or MP. Males from high maleproducing families produced a high proportion of males in their ...

Meiotic drive in Drosophila involving chromosome breakage

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Erickson, J,  Genetics,  51:555-571. 1965.
In ordinary genetic systems the members of a pair of unlike alleles, or of a pair of unlike chromosomes, are recovered in equal numbers among the off spring, barring complications affecting viability. Contrary to this expectation, in a number of studies it has been found that one ...

Aanalysis of case of meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster

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Hanks, GD,  Genetics,  50:123-130. 1964.
IN the past ten years there has been a renewed interest in the abnormal recovery of chromosomes after meiosis; see for example DUNN (1953); NOVITSKI and SANDLER (1957) ; SANDLER and NOVITSKI ( 1957) ; LINDSLEY and SANDLER (1958); NOVITSKI and HANKS (1961); and MAGUIRE (1963). ...

Applications of genetic technology to mosquito rearing

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G. B. Craig,  Bulletin of the World Health Organization,  29:89-97. 1963.
Since the development of insecticide-resistance and the consequent partial failure of the chemical approach to the control of disease vectors, interest in the biological approach has re-awakened. An aspect of the latter approach that is of great current interest is " autocidal ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster .7. Conditional segregation distortion – a possible nonallelic conversion

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Sandler, LH, Y.,  Genetics,  46:585-604. 1961.
Males, heterozygous for the Segregation-distorter (SD) allele (located in or near the centromeric heterochromatin of the right arm of chromosome 11) and a standard tester second chromosome, regularly produce a preponderance of functional SD-bearing sperm ( SANDLER, HIRAIZUMI and ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster .8. A heritable aging effect on phenomenon of segregation distortion

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Sandler, LH, Y.,  Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology,  3:34-46. 1961.
Second chromosomes have been found in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster that contain an abnormal centromere region which conditions a highly aberrant segregation ratio in heterozygous males (Sandler, Hiraizumi, and Sandler, 1959). In particular, when a chromosome ...

Analysis of irradiated Drosophila populations for meiotic drive

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Novitski, EH, G. D.,  Nature,  190:989-990. 1961.
The existence of chromosomes or alleles that are represented in the gametes of a heterozygote with a frequency greater than the expected 50 percent is now well established for a variety of species. The immediate population result of introducing such a chromosome or allele must ...

Time of temperature sensitivity of meiotic drive in Drosophila melanogaster

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Erickson, JH, G. D.,  American Naturalist,  95:247-250. 1961.
In a line of Drosophila melanogaster demonstrating meiotic drive, it was found that the high recovery rate of the X-chromosome could be nearly nullified by temperature treatment. A series of experiments were carried out to determine at what stage of the life-cycle this treatment ...

Inherited male-producing factor in Aedes aegypti

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G. B. Craig, W. A. Hickey and R. C. Vandehey,  Science,  132:1887-1889. 1960.
An inherited factor causes a predominance of males in certain strains and in progeny of single pairs of Aedes aegypti L. This factor appears to be transmitted only by males and is not due to differential mortality, at least in postgametic stages. Mass release of male-producing ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster .4: Instability at the Segregation Distorter locus

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Sandler, LH, Y.,  Genetics,  45:1269-1287. 1960.
In a collection of flies from a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster, several second chromosomes have been isolated that contain, in the centromere region .of chromosome 11, a locus (named segregation-distorter and symbolized SO) that conditions, in heterozygous males, a ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster .5. On the nature of the SD region

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Sandler, LH, Y.,  Genetics,  45:1671-1689. 1960.
Second chromosomes were collected from nature which, when heterozygous with a normal chromosome 1 in males, are present in functional sperm much more often than the expected 50 percent. This phenomenon, named segregation distortion, was found to depend on a locus named ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster .1. The cytogenetic basis of segregation distortion

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Sandler, LH, Y.; Sandler, I.,  Genetics,  44:233-250. 1959.
Meiotic drive has been defined as a force, potentially capable of altering gene frequencies in natural populations, which somehow depends upon the nature of the meiotic divisions; specifically, when the meiotic divisions are such that the two kinds of gametes from a heterozygote ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster 2. Genetic variation at the Segregation Distorter locus

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Sandler, LH, Y.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,  45:1412-1422. 1959.
It has now been found that the proportion of heterozygous SD males resulting from any given cross which exhibits segregation-distortion, and the amount of distortion that any particular male shows (the k value), varies widely depending upon the precise source and history of the ...

Inheritance in Nicotiana tabacum XXVII. Pollen Killer, An alien genetic locus inducing abortion of microspores not carrying it

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D. R. Cameron and R. M. Moav,  Genetics,  42:326. 1957.
A cytogenetic study of experimental introgression from N. plumbaginifolia (pbg) into N. tabacum (tbc) has been pursued in this laboratory for several years (CLAUSEN 1952). In the hybrid derivatives it was observed that genically controlled pollen abortion was associated with the ...

Studies of the genetic variability in populations of wild house mice .2. Analysis of eight additional alleles at locus – T

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L. C. Dunn,  Genetics,  42:299-311. 1957.
1 Eight additional lethal alleles at locus T are described, each derived from a wild heterozygote in one of six different wild populations. 2. The frequency of heterozygotes appears to be high in most wild populations, possibly as high as 50 percent. 3. In two of the ...

Sur la reproduction des souris anoures

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N. Dobrovolskaia-Zavadskaia and N. Kobozieff,  Comptes rendus des séances de la Société de biologie et de ses filiales,  97:116-119. 1927.
Nous ne connaissons que deux lignees de Souris sans queue, celle de Lang (1913), et cell de Duboscq (1922). L’elevange de Lang (lignee des Souris brachyures et anoures du preparateur Alfred Nageli) a donne 199 Souris normales, pour 173 brachyures et 9 anoures. Croisses entre ...