Keywords: selfish DNA

How selfish genes succeed

Stowers Institute for Medical Research,  ScienceDaily,  2022.
A new study reveals how a selfish gene in yeast uses a poison-antidote strategy that enables its function and likely has facilitated its long-term evolutionary success. This strategy is an important addition for scientists studying similar systems including teams that are ...
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Mosquito genomes are frequently invaded by transposable elements through horizontal transfer

E. S. de Melo and G. L. Wallau,  PLOS Genetics,  16:e1008946. 2020.
We characterized the whole TE content of 24 mosquito genomes and investigated the TE inheritance mode uncovering hundreds of horizontal transfer events among these species and distantly related ones. We also identify a mosquito parasitic filarial worm, th
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Sequence analysis in Bos taurus reveals pervasiveness of X–Y arms races in mammalian lineages

J. F. Hughes, H. Skaletsky, T. Pyntikova, N. Koutseva, T. Raudsepp, L. G. Brown, D. W. Bellott, T.-J. Cho, S. Dugan-Rocha, Z. Khan, C. Kremitzki, C. Fronick, T. A. Graves-Lindsay, L. Fulton, W. C. Warren, R. K. Wilson, E. Owens, J. E. Womack, W. J. Murphy,  Genome Research,  2020.
Here, we provide evidence that suppression of X–Y crossing-over unleashed a second dynamic: selfish X–Y arms races that reshaped the sex chromosomes in mammals as different as cattle, mice, and men. Using super-resolution sequencing, we explore the Y Chromosome of Bos taurus ...
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The bull Y chromosome has evolved to bully its way into gametes

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research,  Phys Org,  2020.
In a new study, published Nov. 18 in the journal Genome Research, scientists in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member David Page present the first ever full, high-resolution sequence of the Y chromosome of a Hereford bull. The research, more than a decade in the making, suggests ...
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A maternal-effect selfish genetic element in Caenorhabditis elegans

E. Ben-David, A. Burga and L. Kruglyak,  Science,  356:1051. 2017.
We discovered a selfish element causing embryonic lethality in crosses between wild strains of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
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Poisons, antidotes, and selfish genes

N. Phadnis,  Science,  356:1013. 2017.
On page1051 of this issue, BenDavid et al . (3) chase down a serendipitous observation of an anomaly in genetic crosses to unmask a toxin-antidote type of selfish system in worms.
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Selfish DNA and breeding system in flowering plants

Burt, AT, R.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  265:141-146. 1998.
In many species, some individuals carry one or more B chromosomes: extra, or supernumerary chromosomes not part of the normal complement. In most well-studied cases, B's lower the fitness of their carrier and persist in populations only because of accumulation mechanisms ...
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