Keywords: Transmission distortion

Signatures of sex ratio distortion in humans

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James Guy Baldwin-Brown, Sergiusz Wesolowski, Raquel Mae Reisinger, et al.,  bioRxiv,  2026.
Segregation distortion, the disproportionate inheritance of selfish genetic elements, is an important evolutionary force. While many species carry distorters, it is not clear if humans do. Major limitations for detecting human distortion are the small size of human families and ...

A systematic review and critical analysis of the evidence for transmission ratio distortion in humans

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Ziyi Dai, Gregory Costain,  Genetics,  2026.
Mendel's law of equal segregation states that during gamete formation, the 2 alleles at a gene locus segregate such that each gamete has an equal probability of containing either allele. Transmission ratio distortion (TRD) occurs when 1 of the 2 alleles from either parent is ...

Influence of genetic factors of humans, mosquitoes and parasites, on the evolution of Plasmodium falciparum infections, malaria transmission and genetic control methods: a review of the literature

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Nikiema, S., Soulama, I., Ampofo, G.D. et al.,  BMC Medical Genomics,  18. 2025.
Despite significant progress, malaria remains a public health problem in many regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This situation is partly explained by the mosquito’s resistance to insecticides and the emergence of parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs. Indeed, in ...

An eco-epidemiological model for malaria with Microsporidia MB as bio-control agent

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Mfangnia CNT, Tonnang HEZ, Tsanou B, Keith Herren J,  Modeling Earth Systems and Environment,  11. 2025.
Microsporidia MB is an endosymbiont which naturally infects Anopheles mosquitoes. Due to its ability to block Plasmodium transmission, it shows potential as a bio-based agent for the control of malaria. Its self-sustainability is promising, as it can spread through both ...

Wolbachia Invasion in Mosquitoes with Incomplete CI, Imperfect Maternal Transmission and Maturation Delay

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Ma X, Su Y,  Bulletin of Mathematical Biology,  2024.
The mechanism of cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is important in the study of Wolbachia invasion in wild mosquitoes. Su et al. (Bull Math Biol 84(9):95, 2022) proposed a delay differential equation model by relating the CI effect to maturation delay. In this paper, we ...

Autosomal suppression of sex-ratio meiotic drive influences the dynamics of X and Y chromosome coevolution

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Anjali Gupta, Robert L Unckless,  Journal of Heredity,  2024.
Sex-ratio meiotic drivers are selfish genes or gene complexes that bias the transmission of sex chromosomes resulting in skewed sex ratios. Existing theoretical models have suggested the maintenance of a four-chromosome equilibrium (with driving and standard X and suppressing and ...

Functional and evolutionary constraints of wtf killer meiotic drivers

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Ananya Nidamangala Srinivasa, Samuel Campbell, Shriram Venkatesan, Nicole L Nuckolls, Jeffrey J Lange, Randal Halfmann, Sarah E Zanders,  bioRxiv,  2024.
Killer meiotic drivers are selfish DNA loci that sabotage the gametes that do not inherit them from a driver+/driver- heterozygote. These drivers often employ toxic proteins that target essential cellular functions to cause the destruction of driver- gametes. Identifying the ...

Non-Mendelian transmission of X chromosomes: mechanisms and impact on sex ratios and population dynamics in different breeding systems

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Sally Adams; Andre Pires-daSilva,  Biochemical Society Transactions,  2024.
The non-Mendelian transmission of sex chromosomes during gametogenesis carries significant implications, influencing sex ratios and shaping evolutionary dynamics. Here we focus on known mechanisms that drive non-Mendelian inheritance of X chromosomes during spermatogenesis and ...

Could X Centromeric Drive Underpin PCOS, Miscarriage and Other Age-Related Reproductive Issues?

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Rhianna-lily Smith,  Technology Networks,  2024.
One of the most prevalent conditions is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), affecting 8-13% of women of reproductive age. Characterized by irregular menstrual cycles, excess androgen levels and ovarian cysts, PCOS is one of the leading causes of infertility. Despite its ...

Escalation of genome defense capacity enables control of an expanding meiotic driver

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Peiwei Chen, Katherine C. Pan, Eunice H. Park, Yicheng Luo, Yuh Chwen G. Lee, Alexei A. Aravin,  bioRxiv,  2024.
From RNA interference to chromatin silencing, diverse genome defense pathways silence selfish genetic elements to safeguard genome integrity1,2. Despite their diversity, different defense pathways share a modular organization, where numerous specificity factors identify diverse ...

Transformation of meiotic drive into hybrid sterility in Drosophila

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Jackson Bladen, Hyuck-Jin Nam, Nitin Phadnis,  bioRxiv,  2024.
Hybrid male sterility is one of the fastest evolving intrinsic reproductive barriers between recently isolated populations. A leading explanation for the evolution of hybrid male sterility involves genomic conflicts with meiotic drivers in the male germline. There are, however, ...

Meiotic drive against chromosome fusions in butterfly hybrids

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Jesper Boman, Christer Wiklund, Roger Vila, Niclas Backström,  bioRxiv,  2024.
Species frequently differ in karyotype, but heterokaryotypic individuals may suffer from reduced fitness. Chromosomal rearrangements like fissions and fusions can thus serve as a mechanism for speciation between incipient lineages but their evolution poses a paradox. How does ...

Meiotic drive, postzygotic isolation, and the Snowball Effect

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Robert L. Unckless,  bioRxiv,  2023.
As populations diverge, they accumulate incompatibilities which reduce gene flow and facilitate the formation of new species. Simple models suggest that the genes that cause Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities should accumulate at least as fast as the square of the number of ...

The suppression of a selfish genetic element increases a male’s mating success in a fly

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Sophie Lyth, Andrea J. Betancourt, Tom A. R. Price, Rudi L. Verspoor,  Ecology and Evolution,  2023.
X chromosome meiotic drive (XCMD) kills Y-bearing sperm during spermatogenesis, leading to the biased transmission of the selfish X chromosome. Despite this strong transmission, some natural XCMD systems remain at low and stable frequencies, rather than rapidly spreading through ...

Genetic conflict and the origin of multigene families: implications for sex chromosome evolution

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E. Martí and A. M. Larracuente,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  290:20231823. 2023.
Sex chromosomes are havens for intragenomic conflicts. The absence of recombination between sex chromosomes creates the opportunity for the evolution of segregation distorters: selfish genetic elements that hijack different aspects of an individual's reproduction to increase ...

Testing a candidate meiotic drive locus identified by pool sequencing

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D. A. Barbash, B. Jin, K. H. C. Wei and A.-M. Dion-Côté,  G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics,  2023.
Meiotic drive biases the transmission of alleles in heterozygous individuals, such that Mendel’s law of equal segregation is violated. Most examples of meiotic drive have been discovered over the past century based on causing sex-ratio distortion or the biased transmission of ...

New perspectives on the causes and consequences of male meiotic drive

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Courret, Cécile Wei, Xiaolu Larracuente, Amanda M.,  Current Opinion in Genetics & Development,  2023.
Gametogenesis is vulnerable to selfish genetic elements that bias their transmission to the next generation by cheating meiosis. These so-called meiotic drivers are widespread in plants, animals, and fungi and can impact genome evolution. Here, we summarize recent progress on the ...

Meiotic segregation and post-meiotic drive of the Festuca pratensis B chromosome

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R. Ebrahimzadegan, J. Fuchs, J. Chen, V. Schubert, A. Meister, A. Houben and G. Mirzaghaderi,  Chromosome Research,  31:26. 2023.
In many species, the transmission of B chromosomes (Bs) does not follow the Mendelian laws of equal segregation and independent assortment. This deviation results in transmission rates of Bs higher than 0.5, a process known as “chromosome drive”. Here, we studied the behavior ...

Female meiotic drive in plants: mechanisms and dynamics

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F. Finseth,  Current Opinion in Genetics and Development,  82:102101. 2023.
Female meiosis is fundamentally asymmetric, creating an arena for genetic elements to compete for inclusion in the egg to maximize their transmission. Centromeres, as mediators of chromosomal segregation, are prime candidates to evolve via ‘female meiotic drive’. According to ...

Female meiotic drive shapes the distribution of rare inversion polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster

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S. A. Koury,  Genetics,  2023.
In all species, new chromosomal inversions are constantly being formed by spontaneous rearrangement and then stochastically eliminated from natural populations. In Drosophila, when new chromosomal inversions overlap with a pre-existing inversion in the population, their rate of ...

Proliferation and dissemination of killer meiotic drive loci

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E. C. Lai and A. A. Vogan,  Current Opinion in Genetics and Development,  82:102100. 2023.
Killer meiotic drive elements are selfish genetic entities that manipulate the sexual cycle to promote their own inheritance via destructive means. Two broad classes are sperm killers, typical of animals and plants, and spore killers, which are present in ascomycete fungi. Killer ...

Paternal genome elimination: patterns and mechanisms of drive and silencing

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M. Herbette and L. Ross,  Current Opinion in Genetics and Development,  81. 2023.
In thousands of arthropod species, males inherit, but subsequently eliminate the entire haploid genome of their father. However, why this peculiar reproductive strategy evolved repeatedly across diverse species and what mechanisms are involved in paternal genome elimination (PGE) ...

Ability of a selfish B chromosome to evade genome elimination in the jewel wasp, Nasonia vitripennis

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H. Lee, P. Seo, S. Teklay, E. Yuguchi, E. D. Benetta, J. H. Werren and P. M. Ferree,  Heredity,  2023.
B chromosomes are non-essential, extra chromosomes that can exhibit transmission-enhancing behaviors, including meiotic drive, mitotic drive, and induction of genome elimination, in plants and animals. A fundamental but poorly understood question is what characteristics allow B ...

X chromosome drive is constrained by sexual selection and influences ornament evolution

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K. A. Paczolt, G. T. Welsh and G. S. Wilkinson,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  290:20230929. 2023.
Experimental evolution provides an integrative method for revealing complex interactions among evolutionary processes. One such interaction involves sex-linked selfish genetic elements and sexual selection. X-linked segregation distorters, a type of selfish genetic element, ...

A natural gene drive system confers reproductive isolation in rice

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C. Wang, J. Wang, J. Lu, Y. Xiong, Z. Zhao, X. Yu, X. Zheng, J. Li, Q. Lin, Y. Ren, Y. Hu, X. He, C. Li, Y. Zeng, R. Miao, M. Guo, B. Zhang, Y. Zhu, Y. Zhang, W. Tang, Y. Wang, B. Hao, Q. Wang, S. Cheng, X. He, B. Yao, J. Gao, X. Zhu, H. Yu, Y. Wang, Y. S,  Cell,  2023.
Hybrid sterility restricts the utilization of superior heterosis of indica-japonica inter-subspecific hybrids. In this study, we report the identification of RHS12, a major locus controlling male gamete sterility in indica-japonica hybrid rice. We show that RHS12 consists of two ...

Teosinte Pollen Drive guides maize domestication and evolution by RNAi

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B. Berube , E. Ernst, J. Cahn, B. Roche, C. d. S. Alves, A. Scheben, A. Siepel, J. Ross-Ibarra, J. Kermicle and R. Martienssen,  bioRxiv,  2023.07.12.548689. 2023.
Meiotic drivers subvert Mendelian expectations by manipulating reproductive development to bias their own transmission. Chromosomal drive typically functions in asymmetric female meiosis, while gene drive is normally postmeiotic and typically found in males. Using single molecule ...

Unravelling transmission ratio distortion across the bovine genome: identification of candidate regions for reproduction defects

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S. Id-Lahoucine, J. Casellas, A. Suárez-Vega, P. A. S. Fonseca, F. S. Schenkel, M. Sargolzaei and A. Cánovas,  BMC Genomics,  24:383. 2023.
Our results revealed the importance of implementing different TRD parameterizations to capture all types of distortions and to determine the corresponding inheritance pattern. Novel candidate genomic regions containing lethal alleles and genes with functional and biological ...

The evolutionary history of Drosophila simulans Y chromosomes reveals molecular signatures of resistance to sex ratio meiotic drive

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C. Courret, D. Ogereau, C. Gilbert, A. M. Larracuente and C. Montchamp-Moreau,  Mol Biol Evol,  2023.
The recent evolutionary history of the Y chromosome in Drosophila simulans, a worldwide species of Afrotropical origin, is closely linked to that of X-linked meiotic drivers (Paris system). The spread of the Paris drivers in natural populations has elicited the selection of drive ...

Meiotic drive of noncentromeric loci in mammalian meiosis II eggs

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D. M. Silva and T. Akera,  Curr Opin Genet Dev,  81:102082. 2023.
The germline produces haploid gametes through a specialized cell division called meiosis. In general, homologous chromosomes from each parent segregate randomly to the daughter cells during meiosis, providing parental alleles with an equal chance of transmission. Meiotic drivers ...

Impacts of sex ratio meiotic drive on genome structure and function in a stalk-eyed fly

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J. A. Reinhardt, R. H. Baker, A. V. Zimin, C. Ladias, K. A. Paczolt, J. H. Werren, C. Y. Hayashi and G. S. Wilkinson,  Genome Biology Evolution,  2023.
Stalk-eyed flies in the genus Teleopsis carry selfish genetic elements that induce sex ratio meiotic drive (SR) and impact the fitness of male and female carriers. Here, we assemble and describe a chromosome-level genome assembly of the stalk-eyed fly, Teleopsis dalmanni, to ...

Do sex-linked male meiotic drivers contribute to intrinsic hybrid incompatibilities? Recent empirical studies from flies and rodents

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J. Kitano and K. Yoshida,  Current Opinion in Genetics and Development,  81:102068. 2023.
Intrinsic hybrid incompatibility is one of the important isolating barriers between species. In organisms with sex chromosomes, intrinsic hybrid incompatibility often follows two rules: Haldane’s rule and large-X effects. One explanation for these two rules is that sex ...

Regulatory logic of endogenous RNAi in silencing de novo genomic conflicts

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J. Vedanayagam, C. J. Lin, R. Papareddy, M. Nodine, A. S. Flynt, J. Wen and E. C. Lai,  PLOS Genetics,  19:e1010787. 2023.
Although the biological utilities of endogenous RNAi (endo-RNAi) have been largely elusive, recent studies reveal its critical role in the non-model fruitfly Drosophila simulans to suppress selfish genes, whose unchecked activities can severely impair spermatogenesis. In ...

Essential and recurrent roles for hairpin RNAs in silencing de novo sex chromosome conflict in Drosophila simulans

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J. Vedanayagam, M. Herbette, H. Mudgett, C. J. Lin, C. M. Lai, C. McDonough-Goldstein, S. Dorus, B. Loppin, C. Meiklejohn, R. Dubruille and E. C. Lai,  PLoS Biol,  21:e3002136. 2023.
Meiotic drive loci distort the normally equal segregation of alleles, which benefits their own transmission even in the face of severe fitness costs to their host organism. However, relatively little is known about the molecular identity of meiotic drivers, their strategies of ...

Probing “Selfish” Centromeres Unveils an Evolutionary Arms Race

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M. Lampson,  The Scientist,  2023.
The so-called Robertsonian (Rb) fusions that led to these rapid karyotype changes are relatively common chromosomal rearrangements. But their accumulation in the populations of Madeira Island and in multiple other isolated mouse populations elsewhere is likely due to another ...

Synthetic gene drives as an anthropogenic evolutionary force

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A. D. Cutter,  Trends in Genetics,  2023.
Genetic drive represents a fundamental evolutionary force that can exact profound change to the genetic composition of populations by biasing allele transmission. Herein I propose that the use of synthetic homing gene drives, the human-mediated analog of endogenous genetic ...

Expansion and loss of sperm nuclear basic protein genes in Drosophila correspond with genetic conflicts between sex chromosomes

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C.-H. Chang, I. Mejia Natividad and H. S. Malik,  eLife,  12:e85249. 2023.
Many animal species employ sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs) or protamines to package sperm genomes tightly. SNBPs vary across animal lineages and evolve rapidly in mammals. We used a phylogenomic approach to investigate SNBP diversification in Drosophila species. We found ...

A selfish genetic element and its suppressor causes gross damage to testes in a fly

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S. Lyth, A. Manser, G. Hurst, T. Price and R. Verspoor,  bioRxiv,  2023.02.06.527273. 2023.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs), specifically X-chromosome meiotic drive (XCMD), create huge conflicts within a hosts genome and can have profound effects on fertility. Suppressors are a common evolutionary response to XCMD to negate its costs. However, whether suppressors ...

Both male and female meiosis contribute to non-Mendelian inheritance of parental chromosomes in interspecific plant hybrids (Lolium x Festuca)

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J. Majka, M. Glombik, A. Dolezalova, J. Knerova, M. T. M. Ferreira, Z. Zwierzykowski, M. Duchoslav, B. Studer, J. Dolezel, J. Bartos and D. Kopecky,  NEW PHYTOLOGIST,  2023.
Some interspecific plant hybrids show unequal transmission of chromosomes from parental genomes to the successive generations. It has been suggested that this is due to a differential behavior of parental chromosomes during meiosis. However, underlying mechanism is unknown. We ...

Bypassing Mendel’s First Law: Transmission Ratio Distortion in Mammals

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G. Friocourt, A. Perrin, P. A. Saunders, E. Nikalayevich, C. Voisset, C. Coutton, G. Martinez and F. Morel,  International Journal Molecular Sciences,  24. 2023.
Mendel's law of segregation states that the two alleles at a diploid locus should be transmitted equally to the progeny. A genetic segregation distortion, also referred to as transmission ratio distortion (TRD), is a statistically significant deviation from this rule. TRD has ...

How Selfish Genes Succeed: Critical Insights Uncovered About Dangerous DNA

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STOWERS INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH,  SciTechDaily,  2022.
New findings from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research uncover critical insights about how a dangerous selfish gene—considered to be a parasitic portion of DNA—functions and survives. Understanding this dynamic is a valuable resource for the broader community studying ...

Gene drive-mediated population elimination for biodiversity conservation. When you come to a fork in the road, take it

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B. A. Hay and M. Guo,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  119:e2218020119. 2022.
How can the ability of t w2 to spread at super-Mendelian frequencies be utilized even if it is unable to directly drive the population to an unfit state? Gierus, Birand, and colleagues proposed placing Cas9 and a gRNA at a neutral position within the t haplotype. In this hybrid ...

How selfish genes succeed

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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 ...

S. pombe wtf drivers use dual transcriptional regulation and selective protein exclusion from spores to cause meiotic drive

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N. L. Nuckolls, A. Nidamangala Srinivasa, A. C. Mok, R. M. Helston, M. A. Bravo Núñez, J. J. Lange, T. J. Gallagher, C. W. Seidel and S. E. Zanders,  PLOS Genetics,  18:e1009847. 2022.
Author summary Genomes are often considered a collection of ‘good’ genes that provide beneficial functions for the organism. From this perspective, disease is thought to arise due to disfunction of ‘good’ genes. For example, infertility can be caused by the failure of a ...

A natural gene drive could steer invasive rodents on islands to extinction

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B. Brookshire,  ScienceNews,  2022.
In the battle against the invasive house mouse on islands, scientists are using the rodent’s own genes against it. With the right tweaks, introducing a few hundred genetically altered mice could drive an island’s invasive mouse population to extinction in about 25 years, ...

Deregulation of Y-linked protamine-like genes in sex chromosome-biased spermatid demise

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J. I. Park, G. W. Bell and Y. M. Yamashita,  bioRxiv,  2022.
Meiotic drive is a phenomenon wherein a genetic element achieves a higher rate of transmission than dictated by Mendelian segregation (1-3). One proposed mechanism for meiotic drivers to achieve biased transmission is by sabotaging essential processes of gametogenesis (e.g. ...

Meiotic transmission patterns of additional genomic elements in Brachionus asplanchnoidis, a rotifer with intraspecific genome size variation

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J. Blommaert and C.-P. Stelzer,  Scientific Reports,  12:20900. 2022.
Intraspecific genome size (GS) variation in Eukaryotes is often mediated by additional, nonessential genomic elements. Physically, such additional elements may be represented by supernumerary (B-)chromosomes or by large heterozygous insertions into the regular chromosome set. ...

Meiotic drive adaptive testes enlargement during early development in the stalk-eyed fly

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S. L. Bradshaw, L. Meade, J. Tarlton-Weatherall and A. Pomiankowski,  Biology Letters,  18:20220352. 2022.
The sex ratio (SR) X-linked meiotic drive system in stalk-eyed flies destroys Y-bearing sperm. Unlike other SR systems, drive males do not suffer fertility loss. They have greatly enlarged testes which compensate for gamete killing. We predicted that enlarged testes arise from ...

Discovery of 119-Million-Year-Old “Selfish” Genes Casts Doubt on Established Evolution Beliefs

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Stowers Institute for Medical Research,  SciTechDaily,  2022.
Meiotic drivers, a kind of selfish gene, are indeed selfish. They are found in virtually all species’ genomes, including humans, and unjustly transfer their genetic material to more than half of their offspring, resulting in infertility and impaired organism health. Their ...

Discovery of 119-Million year old Selfish Genes Casts Doubt on Established Evolution Beliefs

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Stowers Institute for Medical Research,  2022.
Meiotic drivers, a kind of selfish gene, are indeed selfish. They are found in virtually all species’ genomes, including humans, and unjustly transfer their genetic material to more than half of their offspring, resulting in infertility and impaired organism health. Their ...

Driving lessons: a brief (personal) history of centromere drive

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H. S. Malik,  Genetics,  2022.
Meiosis is an important specialized cell division in many eukaryotic species, including fungi, plants, and animals. Meiosis results in the production of haploid gametes starting from a diploid cell via 1 round of replication and 2 rounds of cell division. In an influential ...

Centromere drive: chromatin conflict in meiosis

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P. Talbert and S. Henikoff,  Current Opinion in Genetics and Development,  77:102005. 2022.
Centromeres are essential loci in eukaryotes that are necessary for the faithful segregation of chromosomes in mitosis and meiosis. Centromeres organize the kinetochore, the protein machine that attaches sister chromatids or homologous chromosomes to spindle microtubules and ...

Gene drive could be used to wipe out invasive mice on islands

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M. Le Page,  NewScientist,  2022.
For the first time, researchers have created a gene drive – a kind of genetic parasite – that could be used to eradicate mammalian pests such as mice by making them infertile. The technology could provide a humane alternative to the poison baits currently used to tackle ...

World first trial to eradicate mice through gene modification

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I. Mannix,  COSMOS,  2022.
Mouse populations could be eradicated in some areas through new gene modification technology to render female mice infertile. The technology – called t-CRISPR – was previously developed to target malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. This is the first proof of concept for its use ...

Leveraging a natural murine meiotic drive to suppress invasive populations

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L. Gierus, A. Birand, M. D. Bunting, G. I. Godahewa, S. G. Piltz, K. P. Oh, A. J. Piaggio, D. W. Threadgill, J. Godwin, O. Edwards, P. Cassey, J. V. Ross, T. A. A. Prowse and P. Q. Thomas,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  119:e2213308119. 2022.
Invasive rodents are a major cause of environmental damage and biodiversity loss, particularly on islands. Unlike insects, genetic biocontrol strategies including population-suppressing gene drives with biased inheritance have not been developed in mice. Here, we demonstrate a ...

119-Million-Year-Old “Selfish” Genes Uncovered in Yeast

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Stowers Institute for Medical Research,  Technology Networks,  2022.
Meiotic drivers, a type of selfish gene, are indeed selfish. Present in the genomes of nearly all species, including humans, they unfairly transfer their genetic material to more than half of their offspring, sometimes leading to infertility, and decreased organism health. ...

The wtf meiotic driver gene family has unexpectedly persisted for over 100 million years

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M. De Carvalho, G. S. Jia, A. Nidamangala Srinivasa, R. B. Billmyre, Y. H. Xu, J. J. Lange, I. M. Sabbarini, L. L. Du and S. E. Zanders,  eLife,  11. 2022.
Meiotic drivers are selfish elements that bias their own transmission into more than half of the viable progeny produced by a driver+/driver- heterozygote. Meiotic drivers are thought to exist for relatively short evolutionary timespans because a driver gene or gene family is ...

Meiotic defects in human oocytes: Potential causes and clinical implications

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T. Wu, H. Gu, Y. Luo, L. Wang and Q. Sang,  BioEssays,  2022.
Meiotic defects cause abnormal chromosome segregation leading to aneuploidy in mammalian oocytes. Chromosome segregation is particularly error-prone in human oocytes, but the mechanisms behind such errors remain unclear. To explain the frequent chromosome segregation errors, ...

Mitotic exchange in female germline stem cells is the major source of Sex Ratio chromosome recombination in Drosophila pseudoobscura

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S. Koury,  G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics,  2022.
Sex Ratio chromosomes in Drosophila pseudoobscura are selfish X chromosome variants associated with three non-overlapping inversions. In the male germline, Sex Ratio chromosomes distort segregation of X and Y chromosomes (99:1), thereby skewing progeny sex ratio. In the female ...

Meiotic drive is associated with sexual incompatibility in Neurospora

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A. Vogan, J. Svedberg, M. Grudzinska-Sterno and H. Johannesson,  Evolution,  2022.
Evolution of Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller (BDM) incompatibilities is thought to represent a key step in the formation of separate species. They are incompatible alleles that have evolved in separate populations and are exposed in hybrid offspring as hybrid sterility or lethality. In ...

Meiotic drive does not impede success in sperm competition in the stalk-eyed fly, Teleopsis dalmanni

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S. Bates, L. Meade and A. Pomiankowski,  bioRxiv,  2022.
Meiotic drive genes are selfish genetic elements that distort Mendelian patterns of inheritance to bias transmission in their favour. We use the stalk-eyed fly, Teleopsis dalmanni, to investigate the fitness effects associated with a meiotic drive gene called Sex Ratio (SR), ...

Enforcement of Postzygotic Species Boundaries in the Fungal Kingdom

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J. Y. Chou, P. C. Hsu and J. Y. Leu,  Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews,  2022.
Understanding the molecular basis of speciation is a primary goal in evolutionary biology. The formation of the postzygotic reproductive isolation that causes hybrid dysfunction, thereby reducing gene flow between diverging populations, is crucial for speciation. Using various ...

On the Mechanistic Basis of Killer Meiotic Drive in Fungi

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S. J. Saupe and H. Johannesson,  Annual Review of Microbiology,  76:305-323. 2022.
Spore killers are specific genetic elements in fungi that kill sexual spores that do not contain them. A range of studies in the last few years have provided the long-awaited first insights into the molecular mechanistic aspects of spore killing in different fungal models, ...

Hoisted with his own petard: How sex-ratio meiotic drive in Drosophila affinis creates resistance alleles that limit its spread

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W. J. Ma, E. M. Knoles, K. B. Patch, M. M. Shoaib and R. L. Unckless,  J Evol Biol,  2022.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that tinker with gametogenesis to bias their own transmission into the next generation of offspring. Such tinkering can have significant consequences on gametogenesis and end up hampering the spread of the driver. In Drosophila ...

Non-Mendelian transmission of accessory chromosomes in fungi

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J. Komluski, E. H. Stukenbrock and M. Habig,  Chromosome Research,  2022.
Non-Mendelian transmission has been reported for various genetic elements, ranging from small transposons to entire chromosomes. One prime example of such a transmission pattern are B chromosomes in plants and animals. Accessory chromosomes in fungi are similar to B chromosomes ...

“Selfish Genetic Elements” – Supergene Wreaks Havoc in a Genome

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University of Rochester,  SciTechDaily,  2022.
“Selfish genetic elements” litter the human genome. They do not seem to benefit their hosts but instead seek only to propagate themselves. These selfish genetic elements can wreak havoc. For example, they can distort sex ratios, impair fertility, cause harmful mutations, and ...

What can we learn from selfish loci that break Mendel’s law?

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S. E. Zanders,  PLOS Biology,  20:e3001700. 2022.
Mendel’s law of segregation provides a critical foundation for genetic inquiry It is not, however, without exceptions Historically, 2 such exceptions (sex chromosome linkage and chromosome missegregation in meiosis) were used by Drosophila geneticists to help demonstrate ...

Adaptive meiotic drive in selfing populations with heterozygote advantage

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E. Brud,  Theoretical Population Biology,  146:61-70. 2022.
The egalitarian allotment of gametes to each allele at a locus (Mendel's law of segregation) is a near-universal phenomenon characterizing inheritance in sexual populations. As exceptions to Mendel's law are known to occur, one can investigate why non-Mendelian segregation is not ...

Meiotic drive in house mice: mechanisms, consequences, and insights for human biology

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U. P. Arora and B. L. Dumont,  Chromosome Research,  2022.
Meiotic drive occurs when one allele at a heterozygous site cheats its way into a disproportionate share of functional gametes, violating Mendel's law of equal segregation. This genetic conflict typically imposes a fitness cost to individuals, often by disrupting the process of ...

Mendel’s laws of heredity on his 200th birthday: What have we learned by considering exceptions?

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J. B. Wolf, A. C. Ferguson-Smith and A. Lorenz,  Heredity,  129:1-3. 2022.
Violations of Mendel’s laws can generically be referred to as ‘non-Mendelian inheritance’. However, from that broad perspective, nearly all inheritance systems would show non-Mendelian inheritance (at least to some degree). To hold exactly, Mendel’s laws impose strict ...

Centromere drive: model systems and experimental progress

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D. Dudka and M. A. Lampson,  Chromosome Research,  2022.
Centromeres connect chromosomes and spindle microtubules to ensure faithful chromosome segregation. Paradoxically, despite this conserved function, centromeric DNA evolves rapidly and centromeric proteins show signatures of positive selection. The centromere drive hypothesis ...

Hoisted with his own petard: how sex-ratio meiotic drive in <em>Drosophila affinis</em> creates resistance alleles that limit its spread

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W.-J. Ma, E. M. Knoles, K. B. Patch, M. M. Shoaib and R. L. Unckless,  bioRxiv,  2022.02.14.480432. 2022.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that tinker with gametogenesis to bias their own transmission into the next generation of offspring. Such tinkering can have significant consequences on gametogenesis and end up hampering the spread of the driver. In Drosophila ...

Natural and Engineered Sex Ratio Distortion in Insects

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A. Compton and Z. Tu,  Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution,  10. 2022.
Insects have evolved highly diverse genetic sex-determination mechanisms and a relatively balanced male to female sex ratio is generally expected. However, selection may shift the optimal sex ratio while meiotic drive and endosymbiont manipulation can result in sex ratio ...

Meiotic behavior, transmission and active genes of B chromosomes in the cichlid Astatotilapia latifasciata: new clues about nature, evolution and maintenance of accessory elements

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A. L. Cardoso, N. B. Venturelli, I. da Cruz, F. M. de Sá Patroni, D. de Moraes, R. A. de Oliveira, R. Benavente and C. Martins,  Molecular Genetics and Genomics,  2022.
Supernumerary B chromosomes (Bs) are dispensable genetic elements widespread in eukaryotes and are poorly understood mainly in relation to mechanisms of maintenance and transmission. The cichlid Astatotilapia latifasciata can harbor Bs in a range of 0 (named B -) and 1-2 (named ...

Generation of Gene Drive Mice for Invasive Pest Population Suppression

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M. D. Bunting, C. Pfitzner, L. Gierus, M. White, S. Piltz and P. Q. Thomas,  Applications of Genome Modulation and Editing,  2022.
Gene drives are genetic elements that are transmitted to greater than 50% of offspring and have potential for population modification or suppression. While gene drives are known to occur naturally, the recent emergence of CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology has enabled ...

Selective targeting of biting females to control mosquito-borne infectious diseases

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B. B. Kojin, A. Compton, Z. N. Adelman and Z. Tu,  Trends in Parasitology,  2022.
Mosquitoes are vectors for a number of infectious diseases. Only females feed on blood to provision for their embryos and, in doing so, transmit pathogens to the associated vertebrate hosts. Therefore, sex is an important phenotype in the context of genetic control programs, both ...

Iterative evolution of supergene-based social polymorphism in ants

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T. Kay, Q. Helleu and L. Keller,  Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci,  377:20210196. 2022.
Species commonly exhibit alternative morphs, with individual fate being determined during development by either genetic factors, environmental cues or a combination thereof. Ants offer an interesting case study because many species are polymorphic in their social structure. Some ...

Unbalanced selection: the challenge of maintaining a social polymorphism when a supergene is selfish

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A. G. Tafreshi, S. P. Otto and M. Chapuisat,  Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci,  377:20210197. 2022.
Supergenes often have multiple phenotypic effects, including unexpected detrimental ones, because recombination suppression maintains associations among co-adapted alleles but also allows the accumulation of recessive deleterious mutations and selfish genetic elements. Yet, ...

Supergene potential of a selfish centromere

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F. Finseth, K. Brown, A. Demaree and L. Fishman,  Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci,  377:20210208. 2022.
Selfishly evolving centromeres bias their transmission by exploiting the asymmetry of female meiosis and preferentially segregating to the egg. Such female meiotic drive systems have the potential to be supergenes, with multiple linked loci contributing to drive costs or ...

Mendel’s First Law: partisan interests and the parliament of genes

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C. Veller,  Heredity,  2022.
Mendel’s First Law requires explanation because of the possibility of ‘meiotic drivers’, genes that distort fair segregation for selfish gain. The suppression of drive, and the restoration of fair segregation, is often attributed to genes at loci unlinked to the drive ...

Non-Mendelian segregation and transmission drive of B chromosomes

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J. P. M. Camacho,  Chromosome Research,  2022.
Selfish genetic elements (SGE) get a transmission advantage (drive) thanks to their non-Mendelian inheritance. Here I identify eight steps during the reproductive cycle that can be subverted by SGEs to thrive in natural populations. Even though only three steps occur during ...

A meiotic driver alters sperm form and function in house mice: a possible example of spite

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L. Winkler and A. K. Lindholm,  Chromosome Research,  2022.
The ability to subvert independent assortment of chromosomes is found in many meiotic drivers, such as the t haplotype in house mice Mus musculus, in which the t-bearing chromosomal homolog is preferentially transmitted to offspring. This is explained by a poison-antidote system, ...

The Cif proteins from Wolbachia prophage WO modify sperm genome integrity to establish cytoplasmic incompatibility

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R. Kaur, B. A. Leigh, I. T. Ritchie and S. R. Bordenstein,  PLOS Biology,  20:e3001584. 2022.
In Drosophila melanogaster, germline expression of the Wolbachia proteins CifA and CifB causes cytoplasmic incompatibility, but how this impairs male reproduction remains unclear. This study shows how Cif proteins encoded by the endosymbiont prophage invade the fly’s gametic ...

The fate of a suppressed X-linked meiotic driver: experimental evolution in Drosophila simulans

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H. Bastide, D. Ogereau, C. Montchamp-Moreau and P. R. Gérard,  Chromosome Research,  2022.
Sex-ratio (SR) meiotic drivers are X-linked selfish genetic elements that promote their own transmission by preventing the production of Y-bearing sperm, which usually lowers male fertility. The spread of SR drivers in populations is expected to trigger the evolution of unlinked ...

Epistatic selection on a selfish Segregation Distorter supergene: drive, recombination, and genetic load

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B. Navarro-Dominguez, C.-H. Chang, C. L. Brand, C. A. Muirhead, D. C. Presgraves and A. M. Larracuente,  eLife,  11:e78981. 2022.
In this work, we investigate the evolution and genomic consequences of an autosomal, multilocus, male meiotic drive system, Segregation Distorter (SD) in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. In African populations, the predominant SD chromosome variant, SD-Mal, is ...

The evolutionary significance of meiotic drive

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J. B. Searle and F. P.-M. de Villena,  Heredity,  2022.
In this essay, we will focus on‘true meiotic drive’ where the distorted transmission does arise within meiosis itself (Zanders and Unckless2019),specifically in females. Here, the non-transmission of one of the products of meiotic division is inherent in the gametogenic ...

Meiotic drive in chronic lymphocytic leukemia compared with other malignant blood disorders

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V. Jonsson, H. Awan, N. D. Jones, T. B. Johannesen, K. Thogersen, B. A. Steig, G. Andorsdottir and G. E. Tjonnfjord,  Scientific Reports,  12:6138. 2022.
The heredity of the malignant blood disorders, leukemias, lymphomas and myeloma, has so far been largely unknown. The present study comprises genealogical investigations of one hundred and twelve Scandinavian families with unrelated parents and two or more cases of malignant ...

Explainer: The Gene Drive Technology

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P. Shah,  CRISPR Medicine News,  2022.
Gene drives are genetic elements that can quickly spread through populations and have nearly a 100% chance of passing the genes they carry to the next generation. Synthetic gene drive is a technology of genetic engineering through which certain desired traits can be introduced to ...

Evolution of eukaryotic centromeres by drive and suppression of selfish genetic elements

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T. Kumon and M. A. Lampson,  Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology,  2022.
Despite the universal requirement for faithful chromosome segregation, eukaryotic centromeres are rapidly evolving. It is hypothesized that rapid centromere evolution represents an evolutionary arms race between selfish genetic elements that drive, or propagate at the expense of ...

GeneConvene Global Collaborative Webinar Series | Genetic Drive Systems in Nature

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David O'Brochta and Hector Quemada,  GeneConvene Global Collaborative,  2022.
Intra genomic genetic conflicts are ubiquitous in nature and have shaped and continue to shape the evolution of plants, animals, and microbes. These conflicts can result in preferential transmission - drive - of genes, various genetic elements, and even whole chromosomes. ...

Selfish migrants: How a meiotic driver is selected to increase dispersal

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J. N. Runge, H. Kokko and A. K. Lindholm,  J Evol Biol,  2022.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that manipulate meiosis to increase their transmission to the next generation to the detriment of the rest of the genome. One example is the t haplotype in house mice, which is a naturally occurring meiotic driver with deleterious ...

A-to-I mRNA editing controls spore death induced by a fungal meiotic drive gene in homologous and heterologous expression systems

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J. M. Lohmar, N. A. Rhoades, T. N. Patel, R. H. Proctor, T. M. Hammond and D. W. Brown,  Genetics,  2022.
Spore killers are meiotic drive elements that can block development of sexual spores in fungi. In the maize ear rot and mycotoxin-producing fungus Fusarium verticillioides, a spore killer called SkK has been mapped to a 102-kb interval of chromosome V. Here, we show that a gene ...

Hoisted with his own petard: how sex-ratio meiotic drive in Drosophila affnis creates resistance alleles that limit its spread

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W.-J. Ma, K. B. Patch, E. M. Knoles, M. M. Shoaib and R. L. Unckless,  bioRxiv,  2022.02.14.480432. 2022.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that tinker with gameto-genesis to bias their own transmission into the next generation of off-spring. Such tinkering can have significant consequences on gameto-genesis and end up hampering the spread of the driver. In Drosophila ...

The spore killers, fungal meiotic driver elements

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A. A. Vogan, I. Martinossi-Allibert, S. L. Ament-Velásquez, J. Svedberg and H. Johannesson,  Mycologia,  2022.
During meiosis, both alleles of any given gene should have equal chances of being inherited by the progeny. There are a number of reasons why, however, this is not the case, with one of the most intriguing instances presenting itself as the phenomenon of meiotic drive. Genes that ...

chinmo-mutant spermatogonial stem cells cause mitotic drive by evicting non-mutant neighbors from the niche

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C. Y. Tseng, M. Burel, M. Cammer, S. Harsh, M. S. Flaherty, S. Baumgartner and E. A. Bach,  Developmental Cell,  2021.
Niches maintain a finite pool of stem cells via restricted space and short-range signals. Stem cells compete for limited niche resources, but the mechanisms regulating competition are poorly understood. Using the Drosophila testis model, we show that germline stem cells (GSCs) ...

Diverse mating phenotypes impact the spread of wtf meiotic drivers in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

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J. F. L. Hernandez, R. M. Helston, J. J. Lange, R. B. Billmyre, S. H. Schaffner, M. T. Eickbush, S. McCroskey and S. E. Zanders,  Elife,  10:30. 2021.
Meiotic drivers are genetic elements that break Mendel's law of segregation to be transmitted into more than half of the offspring produced by a heterozygote. The success of a driver relies on outcrossing (mating between individuals from distinct lineages) because drivers gain ...

Nuclear transport genes recurrently duplicate by means of RNA intermediates in Drosophila but not in other insects

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A. Mirsalehi, D. N. Markova, M. Eslamieh and E. Betrán,  BMC Genomics,  22:876. 2021.
We find that most of the nuclear transport duplications in Drosophila are of a few classes of nuclear transport genes, RNA mediated and fast evolving. We also retrieve many pseudogenes for the Ran gene. Some of the duplicates are relatively young and likely contributing to the ...

A flurry of sex-ratio distorters

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A. A. Vogan,  Nature Ecology and Evolution,  2021.
Two analyses of long-read sequencing show that the Winters sex-ratio distorter of Drosophila has been a part of a recent gene family expansion, coupled to the appearance of suppressors, in a genomic arms race driven by satellite DNA.

Rapid evolutionary dynamics of an expanding family of meiotic drive factors and their hpRNA suppressors

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J. Vedanayagam, C. J. Lin and E. C. Lai,  Nature Ecology and Evolution,  2021.
Meiotic drivers are a class of selfish genetic elements whose existence is frequently hidden due to concomitant suppressor systems. Accordingly, we know little of their evolutionary breadth and molecular mechanisms. Here, we trace the evolution of the Dox meiotic drive system in ...

Synthetic sex ratio distorters based on CRISPR for the control of harmful insect populations

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Fasulo, B., Meccariello, A., Papathanos, P. A., and Windbichler, N.,  AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application,  2021.
Since the overall reproductive output of a population is typically determined by the fertility of its females, which are rate-limiting in gamete production, a successful way to genetically control a population should involve artificially biasing the sex ratio towards males. In ...

Tubulin post-translational modifications in meiosis

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T. Akera,  Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology,  2021.
Haploid gametes are produced from diploid parents through meiosis, a process inherent to all sexually reproducing eukaryotes. Faithful chromosome segregation in meiosis is essential for reproductive success, although it is less clear how the meiotic spindle achieves this compared ...

Transmission distortion and genetic incompatibilities between alleles in a multigenerational mouse advanced intercross line

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D. Arends, S. Kärst, S. Heise, P. Korkuc, D. Hesse and G. A. Brockmann,  Genetics,  2021.
While direct additive and dominance effects on complex traits have been mapped repeatedly, additional genetic factors contributing to the heterogeneity of complex traits have been scarcely investigated. To assess genetic background effects, we investigated transmission ratio ...

Centromere function in asymmetric cell division in Drosophila female and male germline stem cells

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A. M. Kochendoerfer, F. Modafferi and E. M. Dunleavy,  Open Biology,  11:210107. 2021.
The centromere is the constricted chromosomal region required for the correct separation of the genetic material at cell division. The kinetochore protein complex assembles at the centromere and captures microtubules emanating from the centrosome to orchestrate chromosome ...

A Maternal-Effect Toxin Affects Epithelial Differentiation and Tissue Mechanics in Caenorhabditis elegans

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C. Lehmann and C. Pohl,  Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology,  9. 2021.
Selfish genetic elements that act as post-segregation distorters cause lethality in non-carrier individuals after fertilization. Two post-segregation distorters have been previously identified in Caenorhabditis elegans, the peel-1/zeel-1 and the sup-35/pha-1 elements. These ...

Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles

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T. A. Keaney, T. M. Jones and L. Holman,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  288:20211190. 2021.
The Segregation Distorter (SD) allele found in Drosophila melanogaster distorts Mendelian inheritance in heterozygous males by causing developmental failure of non-SD spermatids, such that greater than 90% of the surviving sperm carry SD. This within-individual advantage should ...

Evolutionary robustness of killer meiotic drives

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P. G. Madgwick and J. B. Wolf,  Evolution Letters,  2021.
A meiotic driver is a selfish genetic element that interferes with the process of meiosis to promote its own transmission. The most common mechanism of interference is gamete killing, where the meiotic driver kills gametes that do not contain it. A killer meiotic driver is ...

Satellite DNA-mediated diversification of a sex-ratio meiotic drive gene family in Drosophila

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C. A. Muirhead and D. C. Presgraves,  Nature Ecology & Evolution,  2021.
Sex chromosomes are susceptible to the evolution of selfish meiotic drive elements that bias transmission and distort progeny sex ratios. Conflict between such sex-ratio drivers and the rest of the genome can trigger evolutionary arms races resulting in genetically suppressed ...

Unravelling the mystery of female meiotic drive: where we are

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F. E. Clark and T. Akera,  Open Biol,  11:210074. 2021.
Female meiotic drive is the phenomenon where a selfish genetic element alters chromosome segregation during female meiosis to segregate to the egg and transmit to the next generation more frequently than Mendelian expectation. While several examples of female meiotic drive have ...

Flavors of Non-Random Meiotic Segregation of Autosomes and Sex Chromosomes

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F. Pajpach, T. Wu, L. Shearwin-Whyatt, K. Jones and F. Grützner,  Genes,  12. 2021.
Segregation of chromosomes is a multistep process occurring both at mitosis and meiosis to ensure that daughter cells receive a complete set of genetic information. Critical components in the chromosome segregation include centromeres, kinetochores, components of sister chromatid ...

Parallel pathways for recruiting effector proteins determine centromere drive and suppression

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T. Kumon, J. Ma, R. B. Akins, D. Stefanik, C. E. Nordgren, J. Kim, M. T. Levine and M. A. Lampson,  Cell,  2021.
Selfish centromere DNA sequences bias their transmission to the egg in female meiosis. Evolutionary theory suggests that centromere proteins evolve to suppress costs of this "centromere drive." In hybrid mouse models with genetically different maternal and paternal centromeres, ...

Analysis of the Segregation Distortion of FcRAN1 Genotypes Based on Whole-Genome Resequencing of Fig (Ficus carica L.) Breeding Parents

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H. Ikegami, K. Shirasawa, H. Yakushiji, S. Yabe, M. Sato, T. Hayashi, K. Tashiro and H. Nogata,  Frontiers in Plant Science,  12:8. 2021.
The common fig (Ficus carica L.) has a gynodioecious breeding system, and its sex phenotype is an important trait for breeding because only female plant fruits are edible. During breeding to select for female plants, we analyzed the FcRAN1 genotype, which is strongly associated ...

Red queen’s race: rapid evolutionary dynamics of an expanding family of meiotic drive factors and their hpRNA suppressors

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J. Vedanayagam, C.-J. Lin and E. C. Lai,  bioRxiv,  2021.08.05.454923. 2021.
Meiotic drivers are a class of selfish genetic elements that are widespread across eukaryotes. Their activities are often detrimental to organismal fitness and thus trigger drive suppression to ensure fair segregation during meiosis. Accordingly, their existence is frequently ...

Distinct spermiogenic phenotypes underlie sperm elimination in the Segregation Distorter meiotic drive system

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M. Herbette, X. L. Wei, C. H. Chang, A. M. Larracuente, B. Loppin and R. Dubruille,  PLOS Genetics,  17:26. 2021.
Here we show that SD/SD+ males of different genotypes but with similarly strong degrees of distortion have distinct spermiogenic phenotypes. In some genotypes, SD+ spermatids fail to fully incorporate protamines after the removal of histones, and degenerate during the ...

Patterns and Mechanisms of Sex Ratio Distortion in the Collaborative Cross Mouse Mapping Population

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B. A. Haines, F. Barradale and B. L. Dumont,  bioRxiv,  2021.
In species with single-locus chromosome-based mechanisms of sex determination, the laws of segregation predict an equal ratio of females to males at birth. Here, we show that departures from this Mendelian expectation are commonplace in the 8-way recombinant inbred Collaborative ...

First evidence of deviation from Mendelian proportions in a conservation programme

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C. E. Grueber, K. A. Farquharson, B. R. Wright, G. P. Wallis, C. J. Hogg and K. Belov,  Molecular Ecology,  13. 2021.
Classic Mendelian inheritance is the bedrock of population genetics and underpins pedigree-based management of animal populations. However, assumptions of Mendelian inheritance might not be upheld in conservation breeding programmes if early viability selection occurs, even when ...

Experiments confirm a dispersive phenotype associated with a natural gene drive system

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J.-N. Runge and A. K. Lindholm,  Royal Society Open Science,  8:202050. 2021.
Meiotic drivers are genetic entities that increase their own probability of being transmitted to offspring, usually to the detriment of the rest of the organism, thus ‘selfishly’ increasing their fitness. In many meiotic drive systems, driver-carrying males are less ...

Selfish chromosomal drive shapes recent centromeric histone evolution in monkeyflowers

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F. R. Finseth, T. C. Nelson and L. Fishman,  PLOS Genetics,  17:e1009418. 2021.
Centromeres must mediate faithful chromosomal transmission during cell division and sexual reproduction, but both the DNA and protein components of centromeres diverge rapidly across species. The selfish centromere model argues that this paradoxical diversity results from a ...

Invasion and maintenance of meiotic drivers in populations of ascomycete fungi

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I. Martinossi-Allibert, C. Veller, S. L. Ament-Velasquez, A. A. Vogan, C. Rueffler and H. Johannesson,  Evolution,  20. 2021.
Meiotic drivers (MDs) are selfish genetic elements that are able to become overrepresented among the products of meiosis. This transmission advantage makes it possible for them to spread in a population even when they impose fitness costs on their host organisms. Whether an MD ...

Meiotic drive does not cause condition-dependent reduction of the sexual ornament in stalk-eyed flies

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S. R. Finnegan, M. Mondani, K. Fowler and A. Pomiankowski,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  11. 2021.
Meiotic drive systems are associated with low-frequency chromosomal inversions. These are expected to accumulate deleterious mutations due to reduced recombination and low effective population size. We test this prediction using the 'sex-ratio' (SR) meiotic drive system of the ...

Holocentric Chromosomes Probably Do Not Prevent Centromere Drive in Cyperaceae

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M. Kratka, J. Smerda, K. Lojdova, P. Bures and F. Zedek,  Frontiers in Plant Science,  12:9. 2021.
In response to these selfish centromeres, the histone protein CenH3, which recruits kinetochore components, adaptively evolves to restore chromosomal parity and counter the detrimental effects of centromere drive. Holocentric chromosomes, whose kinetochores are assembled along ...

Widespread haploid-biased gene expression enables sperm-level natural selection

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K. Bhutani, K. Stansifer, S. Ticau, L. Bojic, A.-C. Villani, J. Slisz, C. M. Cremers, C. Roy, J. Donovan, B. Fiske and R. C. Friedman,  Science,  eabb1723. 2021.
Here, we show that a large class of mammalian genes are not completely shared across these bridges. We term these genes “genoinformative markers” (GIMs) and show that a subset can act as selfish genetic elements that spread alleles unevenly through murine, bovine, and human ...

Whole-genome resequencing reveals loci with allelic transmission ratio distortion in F1 chicken population

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P. Ren, F. Deng, S. Chen, J. Ran, J. Li, L. Yin, Y. Wang, H. Yin, Q. Zhu and Y. Liu,  Molecular Genetics and Genomics,  2021.
In this study, whole-genome resequencing technology was applied to reveal TRD loci in chicken by constructing a full-sib F1 hybrid population. Through the whole-genome resequencing data of two parents (30 ×) and 38 offspring (5 ×), we detected a total of 2850 TRD SNPs ...

RNA editing controls meiotic drive by a Neurospora Spore killer

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N. A. Rhoades and T. M. Hammond,  bioRxiv,  2020.12.30.424869. 2021.
Neurospora Sk-2 is a complex meiotic drive element that is transmitted to offspring through sexual reproduction in a biased manner. Sk-2’s biased transmission mechanism involves spore killing, and recent evidence has demonstrated that spore killing is triggered by a gene called ...

Polyandry blocks gene drive in a wild house mouse population

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A. Manser, B. Konig and A. K. Lindholm,  Nature Communications,  11:8. 2020.
Here, we study the impact of polyandry on a well-known gene drive, called t haplotype, in an intensively monitored population of wild house mice. First, we show that house mice are highly polyandrous: 47% of 682 litters were sired by more than one male. Second, we find that ...

X-linked meiotic drive can boost population size and persistence

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C. Mackintosh, A. Pomiankowski and M. F. Scott,  Genetics,  217:11. 2020.
Here, we find general conditions for the spread and fixation of X-linked alleles. Our conditions show that the spread of X-linked alleles depends on sex-specific selection and transmission rather than the time spent in each sex. Applying this logic to meiotic drive, we show that ...

Sequence analysis in Bos taurus reveals pervasiveness of X–Y arms races in mammalian lineages

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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 ...

The bull Y chromosome has evolved to bully its way into gametes

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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 ...

A test for meiotic drive in hybrids between Australian and Timor zebra finches

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U. Knief, W. Forstmeier, Y. Pei, J. Wolf and B. Kempenaers,  Ecology and Evolution,  2020.
We did not find evidence for meiotic driver loci on specific chromosomes. However, we observed a weak overall transmission bias toward Timor alleles at centromeres in females (transmission probability of Australian alleles of 47%, nominal p = 6 ? 10?5). While this is in line ...

Cellular mechanisms regulating synthetic sex ratio distortion in the Anopheles gambiae germline

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R. E. Haghighat-Khah, A. Sharma, M. R. Wunderlich, G. Morselli, L. A. Marston, C. Bamikole, A. Hall, N. Kranjc, C. Taxiarchi, I. Sharakhov and R. Galizi,  Pathogens and Global Health,  114:370-378. 2020.
Meiotic cleavage of rDNA repeats, located in the sex chromosomes of A. gambiae SD males, affects the competitiveness of mature sperm to fertilize the female oocyte.

Selfish genetic elements and male fertility

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R. L. Verspoor, T. A. R. Price and N. Wedell,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  375:7. 2020.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) are diverse and near ubiquitous in Eukaryotes and can be potent drivers of evolution. Here, we discuss SGEs that specifically act on sperm to gain a transmission advantage to the next generation. The diverse SGEs that affect sperm often impose ...

Engineering the Composition and Fate of Wild Populations with Gene Drive

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B. A. Hay, G. Oberhofer and M. Guo,  Annual Review of Entomology,  2020.
We describe technologies under consideration, progress that has been made, and remaining technological hurdles, particularly with respect to evolutionary stability and our ability to control the spread and ultimate fate of genes introduced into populations.

Resistance to natural and synthetic gene drive systems

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T. A. R. Price, N. Windbichler, R. L. Unckless, A. Sutter, J.-N. Runge, P. A. Ross, A. Pomiankowski, N. L. Nuckolls, C. Montchamp-Moreau, N. Mideo, O. Y. Martin, A. Manser, M. Legros, A. M. Larracuente, L. Holman, J. Godwin, N. Gemmell, C. Courret, A. Buc,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  2020.
This review summarizes our current knowledge of drive resistance in both natural and synthetic gene drives. We explore how insights from naturally occurring and synthetic drive systems can be integrated to improve the design of gene drives, better predict the outcome of releases ...

Maternal Transmission Ratio Distortion in Two Iberian Pig Varieties

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M. Vazquez-Gomez, M. M. de Hijas-Villalba, L. Varona, N. Ibanez-Escriche, J. P. Rosas, S. Negro, J. L. Noguera and J. Casellas,  Genes,  11:16. 2020.
Although TRD can be a confounding factor in genetic mapping studies, this phenomenon remains mostly unknown in pigs, particularly in traditional breeds (i.e., the Iberian pig). We aimed to describe the maternal TRD prevalence and its genomic distribution in two Iberian varieties. ...

Survival of the fit-ish

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Stowers Institute for Medical Research,  Science Daily,  2020.
In a paper published online August 13, 2020, in eLife, members of the Zanders lab explain how it could be possible that meiotic drivers persist in the population, even as they kill off many would-be hosts. It turns out that S. pombe can employ variants of other genes to help ...

Atypical meiosis can be adaptive in outcrossed Schizosaccharomyces pombe due to wtf meiotic drivers

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M. A. Bravo Núñez, I. M. Sabbarini, L. E. Eide, R. L. Unckless and S. E. Zanders,  eLife,  9:e57936. 2020.
Here, we demonstrate that in scenarios analogous to outcrossing, wtf drivers generate a fitness landscape in which atypical spores, such as aneuploids and diploids, are advantageous. In this context, wtf drivers can decrease the fitness costs of mutations that disrupt meiotic ...

Maternal effect killing by a supergene controlling ant social organization

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A. Avril, J. Purcell, S. Béniguel and M. Chapuisat,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  2020.
Supergenes are clusters of linked loci producing complex alternative phenotypes. In a series of experiments, we demonstrate that a supergene controlling ant social organization distorts Mendel’s laws to enhance its transmission to adult offspring. One supergene haplotype is ...

Invasion and maintenance of spore killers in populations of ascomycete fungi

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I. Martinossi-Allibert, C. Veller, S. L. Ament-Velásquez, A. A. Vogan, C. Rueffler and H. Johannesson,  bioRxiv,  2020.04.06.026989. 2020.
We show how ploidy level, rate of selfing, and efficiency of spore killing affect the invasion probability of a driving allele and the conditions for its stable coexistence with the non-driving allele. Our model can be adapted to different fungal life-cycles, and is applied here ...

Can natural gene drives be part of future fungal pathogen control strategies in plants?

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D. M. Gardiner, A. Rusu, L. Barrett, G. C. Hunter and K. Kazan,  New Phtologist,  2020.
Globally, fungal pathogens cause enormous crop losses and current control practices are not always effective, economical or environmentally sustainable. Tools enabling genetic management of wild pathogen populations could potentially solve many problems associated with plant ...

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 ...

Meiotic drive

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A. N. Srinivasa and S. E. Zanders,  Current Biology,  30:R627-R629. 2020.
What is meiotic drive? Diploid organisms, like you, have two copies of each autosomal chromosome, one from each parent. Sometimes organisms are heterozygous at a given region, meaning they carry different copies (or alleles) of the DNA sequence on the two homologous chromosomes. ...

A Protamine Knockdown Mimics the Function of Sd in Drosophila melanogaster

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L. F. Gingell and J. R. McLean,  G3-Genes Genomes Genetics,  10:2111-2115. 2020.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is an autosomal meiotic drive system found worldwide in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. This gene complex induces the preferential and nearly exclusive transmission of the SD chromosome in SD/SD+ males. This selfish propagation occurs ...

The Y Chromosome as a Battleground for Intragenomic Conflict

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D. Bachtrog,  Trends in Genetics,  2020.
Recurrent sex chromosome drive can have profound ecological, evolutionary, and cellular impacts and account for unique features of sex chromosomes.

Recessive Z-linked lethals and the retention of haplotype diversity in a captive butterfly population

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I. J. Saccheri, S. Whiteford, C. J. Yung and A. E. van't Hof,  Heredity,  2020.
Sex chromosomes are predicted to harbour elevated levels of sexually antagonistic variation due to asymmetries in the heritability of recessive traits in the homogametic versus heterogametic sex.

The Enterprise: A massive transposon carrying Spokt meiotic drive genes

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A. A. Vogan, S. L. Ament-Velásquez, E. Bastiaans, O. Wallerman, S. J. Saupe, A. Suh and H. Johannesson,  bioRxiv,  2020.03.25.007153. 2020.
Previously, we described a large genomic feature called the Spok block which is notable due to the presence of meiotic drive genes of the Spok gene family. The Spok block ranges from 110 kb to 247 kb and can be present in at least four different genomic locations within P. ...

Selfish genes and sexual selection: the impact of genomic parasites on host reproduction

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N. Wedell,  Journal of Zoology,  311:1-12. 2020.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) such as replicating mobile elements, segregation distorters and maternally inherited endosymbionts, bias their transmission success relative to the rest of the genome to increase in representation in subsequent generations. As such, they generate ...

Strategies for Achieving Gene Drive – Gonotaxis

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GeneConvene Global Collaborative,  2020.
This video explains how there are three strategies for achieving gene drive and focuses on one, gonotaxis.  Gonotaxis is explained and illustrated.  While well-described in various plants and animals, gene drive researchers and technology developers have not recreated gonotaxis ...

Gene Drive – The Concept Explained

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GeneConvene Global Collaborative,  2020.
This short video is intended to serve as a short tutorial that explains the general idea of 'drive' or 'gene drive' in the context of genetics.  It provides the viewer with a basic understanding of the key genetic processes underlying the patterns of inheritance with which most ...

Modeling the impacts of a simple meiotic gene drive on small, homeostatic populations

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K. R. Pilkiewicz and M. L. Mayo,  Physical Review E,  101:11. 2020.
Gene drives offer unprecedented control over the fate of natural ecosystems by leveraging non-Mendelian inheritance mechanisms to proliferate synthetic genes across wild populations. However, these benefits are offset by a need to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of ...

Dramatically diverse Schizosaccharomyces pombe wtf meiotic drivers all display high gamete-killing efficiency

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M. A. Bravo Núñez, I. M. Sabbarini, M. T. Eickbush, Y. Liang, J. J. Lange, A. M. Kent and S. E. Zanders,  PLOS Genetics,  16:e1008350. 2020.
During gametogenesis, the two gene copies at a given locus, known as alleles, are each transmitted to 50% of the gametes (e.g. sperm). However, some alleles cheat so that they are found in more than the expected 50% of gametes, often at the expense of fertility. This selfish ...

Progress towards engineering gene drives for population control

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R. R. Raban, J. M. Marshall and O. S. Akbari,  The Journal of Experimental Biology,  223:jeb208181. 2020.
Vector-borne diseases, such as dengue, Zika and malaria, are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. These diseases have proven difficult to control and currently available management tools are insufficient to eliminate them in many regions. Gene drives have the ...

An introgressed gene causes meiotic drive in Neurospora sitophila

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J. Svedberg, A. A. Vogan, N. A. Rhoades, D. Sarmarajeewa, D. J. Jacobson, M. Lascoux, T. M. Hammond and H. Johannesson,  bioRxiv,  2020.01.29.923946. 2020.
In this study, we identify the gene responsible for spore killing in Sk-1 by generating both long and short-read genomic data and by using these data to perform a genome wide association test. By phylogenetic analysis, we demonstrate that the gene is likely to have been ...

Autosomal suppression and fitness costs of an old driving X chromosome in Drosophila testacea

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G. Keais, S. Lu and S. Perlman,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  2020.
Driving X chromosomes (XDs) are meiotic drivers that bias their own transmission through males by killing Y-bearing gametes. These chromosomes can in theory spread rapidly in populations and cause extinction, but many are found as balanced polymorphisms or as ?cryptic? XDs shut ...

A selfish genetic element linked to increased lifespan impacts metabolism in female house mice

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Lopes, P. C. and A. K. Lindholm,  The Journal of Experimental Biology,  2019:212704. 2019.
Gene drive systems can lead to the evolution of traits that further enhance the transmission of the driving element. In gene drive, one allele is transmitted to offspring at a higher frequency than the homologous allele. This has a range of consequences, which generally include a ...

Maintenance of fertility in the face of meiotic drive

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Meade, L., S. Finnegan, R. Kad, K. Fowler and A. Pomiankowsk,  The American Naturalist,  2019:2019. 2019.
Selfish genetic elements that gain a transmission advantage through the destruction of sperm have grave implications for drive male fertility. In the X-linked SR meiotic drive system of a stalk-eyed fly, we found that drive males have greatly enlarged testes and maintain high ...

An assessment of the immune costs associated with meiotic drive elements in Drosophila

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Lea, J. K. and R. L. Unckless,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  286:20191534. 2019.
Most organisms are constantly adapting to pathogens and parasites that exploit their host for their own benefit. Less studied, but perhaps more ubiquitous, are intragenomic parasites or selfish genetic elements. These include transposable elements, selfish B chromosomes and ...

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 ...

An X-linked meiotic drive allele has strong, recessive fitness costs in female Drosophila pseudoobscura

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W. Larner, T. Price, L. Holman and N. Wedell,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  286:9. 2019.
Selfish 'meiotic drive' alleles are transmitted to more than 50% of offspring, allowing them to rapidly invade populations even if they reduce the fitness of individuals carrying them. Theory predicts that drivers should either fix or go extinct, yet some drivers defy these ...

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 ...

Meiotic drive mechanisms: lessons from Drosophila

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C. Courret, C.-H. Chang, K. H.-C. Wei, C. Montchamp-Moreau and A. M. Larracuente,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  286:20191430. 2019.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that bias their transmission into gametes, often to the detriment of the rest of the genome. The resulting intragenomic conflicts triggered by meiotic drive create evolutionary arms races and shape genome evolution. The phenomenon of ...

Does meiotic drive alter male mate preference?

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S. R. Finnegan, L. Nitsche, M. Mondani, M. F. Camus, K. Fowler and A. Pomiankowski,  Behavioral Ecology,  13:194-201. 2019.
Male mate preferences have been demonstrated across a range of species, including the Malaysian stalk-eyed fly, Teleopsis dalmanni. This species is subject to sex-ratio (SR), an X-linked male meiotic driver, which causes the dysfunction of Y-sperm and the production of all-female ...

Fitness consequences of the selfish supergene Segregation Distorter

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H. W. S. Wong and L. Holman,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  33:89-100. 2019.
Segregation distorters are selfish genetic elements that subvert Mendelian inheritance, often by destroying gametes that do not carry the distorter. Simple theoretical models predict that distorter alleles will either spread to fixation or stabilize at some high intermediate ...

Standard deviations: The biological bases of transmission ratio distortion

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L. Fishman and M. McIntosh,  Annual Review of Genetics,  53:347-372. 2019.
The rule of Mendelian inheritance is remarkably robust, but deviations from the equal transmission of alternative alleles at a locus [a.k.a. transmission ratio distortion (TRD)] are also commonly observed in genetic mapping populations. Such TRD reveals locus-specific selection ...

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 ...

Combinations of Spok genes create multiple meiotic drivers in Podospora

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A. A. Vogan, S. L. Ament-Velásquez, A. Granger-Farbos, J. Svedberg, E. Bastiaans, A. J. M. Debets, V. Coustou, H. Yvanne, C. Clavé, S. J. Saupe and H. Johannesson,  eLife,  8:e46454. 2019.
Meiotic drive is the preferential transmission of a particular allele during sexual reproduction. The phenomenon is observed as spore killing in multiple fungi. In natural populations of Podospora anserina, seven spore killer types (Psks) have been identified through classical ...

A family of killers

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M. De Carvalho and S. E. Zanders,  eLife,  8:e49211. 2019.
Spok genes are meiotic drivers that increase their own chances of transmission by killing gametes that do not inherit them.

Sex-ratio meiotic drive shapes the evolution of the Y chromosome in Drosophila simulans

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Q. Helleu, C. Courret, D. Ogereau, K. L. Burnham, N. Chaminade, M. Chakir, S. Aulard and C. Montchamp-Moreau,  Molecular Biology and Evolution,  36:2668-2681. 2019.
The recent emergence and spread of X-linked segregation distorters-called "Paris" system-in the worldwide species Drosophila simulans has elicited the selection of drive-resistant Y chromosomes. Here, we investigate the evolutionary history of 386 Y chromosomes originating from ...

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 ...

Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on the Development of a Gene Drive Mouse for Biodiversity Protection on Islands: Workshop Report

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M. Farooque, S. K. Barnhill-Dilling, J. Shapiro and J. Delborne,  North Carolina State University,  2019.
The “Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on the Development of a Gene Drive Mouse for Biodiversity Protection” workshop was held on the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh, NC on March 7-8, 2019, aiming to convene a diverse group of stakeholders, scientists, ...

Gene-drive-mediated extinction is thwarted by population structure and evolution of sib mating

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J. J. Bull, C. H. Remien and S. M. Krone,  Evolution Medicine and Public Health,  2019:66-81. 2019.
Genetic engineering combined with CRISPR technology has developed to the point that gene drives can, in theory, be engineered to cause extinction in countless species. Success of extinction programs now rests on the possibility of resistance evolution, which is largely unknown. ...

Identification of fk-1;, a Meiotic Driver Undergoing RNA Editing in Neurospora

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N. A. Rhoades, A. M. Harvey, D. A. Samarajeewa, J. Svedberg, A. Yusifov, A. Abusharekh, P. Manitchotpisit, D. W. Brown, K. J. Sharp, D. G. Rehard, J. Peters, X. Ostolaza-Maldonado, J. Stephenson, P. K. T. Shiu, H. Johannesson and T. M. Hammond,  Genetics,  212:93. 2019.
These findings indicate that unedited and edited rfk-1 transcripts exist and that these transcripts could have different roles with respect to the mechanism of meiotic drive by spore killing. Regardless of RNA editing, spore killing only succeeds if rfk-1 transcripts avoid ...

Genetic pest management technologies to control invasive rodents

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D. Kanavy and D. Threadgill,  Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge,  2019.
Many strategies exist to manage invasive pests on islands, ranging from poison to trapping, with varying degrees of success. Genetic technologies are increasingly being applied to insect pests, but so far, not to vertebrates. We are implementing a genetic strategy to eradicate ...

Meiotic drive shapes rates of karyotype evolution in mammals

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Blackmon, H., J. Justison, I. Mayrose and E. E. Goldberg,  Evolution,  73:511-523. 2019.
Chromosome number is perhaps the most basic characteristic of a genome, yet generalizations that can explain the evolution of this trait across large clades have remained elusive. Using karyotype data from over 1000 mammals, we developed and applied a phylogenetic model of ...

Genome-wide transcriptome profiling reveals genes associated with meiotic drive system of Aedes aegypti

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Shin, DB, K. Susanta; Severson, W. David,  Insects,  10:e25. 2019.
Aedes aegypti is an important mosquito vector of several arboviruses, including dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and Chikungunya, which cause significant human morbidity and mortality globally. In certain populations of this mosquito, a native meiotic drive system causes abnormal ...

Transmission ratio distortion is frequent in Arabidopsis thaliana controlled crosses

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Seymour, DKC, E.; Arioz, B. I.; Koenig, D.; Weigel, D.,  Heredity,  122:294-304. 2019.
The equal probability of transmission of alleles from either parent during sexual reproduction is a central tenet of genetics and evolutionary biology. Yet, there are many cases where this rule is violated. The preferential transmission of alleles or genotypes is termed ...

The toxin–antidote model of cytoplasmic incompatibility: Genetics and evolutionary implications

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Beckmann, JFB, Manon; Chen, Hongli; Hochstrasser, Mark; Poinsot, Denis; Merçot, Hervé; Weill, Mylène; Sicard, Mathieu; Charlat, Sylvain,  Trends in Genetics,  35:175-185. 2019.
Wolbachia bacteria inhabit the cells of about half of all arthropod species, an unparalleled success stemming in large part from selfish invasive strategies. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), whereby the symbiont makes itself essential to embryo viability, is the most common of ...

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 ...

Two-By-One model of cytoplasmic incompatibility: Synthetic recapitulation by transgenic expression of cifA and cifB in Drosophila

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Shropshire, JDB, S. R.,  PLOS Genetics,  15:e1008221. 2019.
Wolbachia are maternally inherited bacteria that infect arthropod species worldwide and are deployed in vector control to curb arboviral spread using cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). CI kills embryos when an infected male mates with an uninfected female, but the lethality is ...

Developing gene drive technologies to eradicate invasive rodents from islands

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C. M. Leitschuh, D. Kanavy, G. A. Backus, R. X. Valdez, M. Serr, E. A. Pitts, D. Threadgill and J. Godwin,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S121-S138. 2018.
Gene drive methods of rodent eradication offer an alternative to killing that has the potential to be more species-specific, more humane, and more biologically safe for use around humans. Implementing this technology would involve releasing laboratory-developed engineered mice ...

Gene drive to reduce malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa

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Burt, AC, Mamadou; Crisanti, Andrea; Diabate, Abdoulaye; Kayondo, Jonathan K.,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S66-S80. 2018.
Despite impressive progress, malaria continues to impose a substantial burden of mortality and morbidity, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and new tools will be needed to achieve elimination. Gene drive is a natural process by which some genes are inherited at a ...

Identifying and detecting potentially adverse ecological outcomes associated with the release of gene-drive modified organisms

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Hayes, KRH, G. R.; Dana, G. V.; Foster, S. D.; Ford, J. H.; Thresher, R.; Ickowicz, A.; Peel, D.; Tizard, M.; De Barro, P.; Strive, T.; Dambacher, J. M.,  Journal of Responsible Innovation,  5:S139-S158. 2018.
Synthetic gene drives could provide new solutions to a range of old problems such as controlling vector-borne diseases, agricultural pests and invasive species. In this paper, we outline methods to identify hazards and detect potentially adverse ecological outcomes at the ...

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 ...

Rapid comeback of males: evolution of male-killer suppression in a green lacewing population

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Hayashi, MN, M.; Kageyama, D.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  285:6. 2018.
Evolutionary theory predicts that the spread of cytoplasmic sex ratio distorters leads to the evolution of host nuclear suppressors, although there are extremely few empirical observations of this phenomenon. Here, we demonstrate that a nuclear suppressor of a cytoplasmic male ...

Selfish genetic elements

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Agren, JAC, A. G.,  PLOS Genetics,  14:20. 2018.
Selfish genetic elements (historically also referred to as selfish genes, ultra-selfish genes, selfish DNA, parasitic DNA, genomic outlaws) are genetic segments that can enhance their own transmission at the expense of other genes in the genome, even if this has no or a negative ...

Gene flow mediates the role of sex chromosome meiotic drive during complex speciation

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Meiklejohn, CDL, Emily L.; Gordon, Kathleen E.; Rzatkiewicz, Thomas; Kingan, Sarah B.; Geneva, Anthony J.; Vedanayagam, Jeffrey P.; Muirhead, Christina A.; Garrigan, Daniel; Stern, David L.; Presgraves, Daven C.,  eLife,  7:e35468. 2018.
During speciation, sex chromosomes often accumulate interspecific genetic incompatibilities faster than the rest of the genome. The drive theory posits that sex chromosomes are susceptible to recurrent bouts of meiotic drive and suppression, causing the evolutionary build-up of ...

Gene drive: Evolved and synthetic

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Burt, AC, Andrea,  ACS Chemical Biology,  13:343-346. 2018.
Drive is a process of accelerated inheritance from one generation to the next that allows some genes to spread rapidly through populations even if they do not contribute to—or indeed even if they detract from—organismal survival and reproduction. Genetic elements that can ...

Strong hybrid male incompatibilities impede the spread of a selfish chromosome between populations of a fly

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Verspoor Rudi, LSJ, M. L.; Mannion Natasha, L. M.; Hurst Gregory, D. D.; Price Tom, A. R.,  Evolution Letters,  2:169-179. 2018.
Meiotically driving sex chromosomes manipulate gametogenesis to increase their transmission at a cost to the rest of the genome. The intragenomic conflicts they produce have major impacts on the ecology and evolution of their host species. However, their ecological dynamics ...

How selfish DNA hijacks its way into egg cells

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Science,  2017.
This video was produced by Science magazine and explains and illustrates how gonotaxis or the asymmetrical allocation of chromosomes to developing female gametes occurs in mice. This video reflects an understanding of this process based on the publication by Akera et al (2017).

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 ...

A maternal-effect selfish genetic element in Caenorhabditis elegans

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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.

Poisons, antidotes, and selfish genes

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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.

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, ...

Genetic conflicts: the usual suspects and beyond

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McLaughlin, RNM, H. S.,  Journal of Experimental Biology,  220:6-17. 2017.
Selfishness is pervasive and manifests at all scales of biology, from societies, to individuals, to genetic elements within a genome. The relentless struggle to seek evolutionary advantages drives perpetual cycles of adaptation and counter-adaptation, commonly referred to as Red ...

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 ...

Sperm competition suppresses gene drive among experimentally evolving populations of house mice

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Manser, AL, A. K.; Simmons, L. W.; Firman, R. C.,  Molecular Ecology,  26:5784-5792. 2017.
Drive genes are genetic elements that manipulate the 50% ratio of Mendelian inheritance in their own favour, allowing them to rapidly propagate through populations. The action of drive genes is often hidden, making detection and identification inherently difficult. Yet drive ...

The promise and peril of CRISPR gene drives

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Zentner, GEW, Michael J. C.,  Bioessays,  39:1-9. 2017.
Gene drives are selfish genetic elements that use a variety of mechanisms to ensure they are transmitted to subsequent generations at greater than expected frequencies. Synthetic gene drives based on the clustered regularly interspersed palindromic repeats (CRISPR) genome editing ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Intragenomic conflict produces sex ratio dynamics that favor maternal sex ratio distorters

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Rood, ESF, S.,  Ecology and Evolution,  6:8085-8093. 2016.
Maternal sex ratio distorters (MSDs) are selfish elements that enhance their transmission by biasing their host's sex allocation in favor of females. While previous models have predicted that the female-biased populations resulting from sex ratio distortion can benefit from ...

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

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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 ...

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 ...

The Ecology and Evolutionary Dynamics of Meiotic Drive

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Lindholm, AKD, K. A.; Firman, R. C.; Fishman, L.; Forstmeier, W.; Holman, L.; Johannesson, H.; Knief, U.; Kokko, H.; Larracuente, A. M.; Manser, A.; Montchamp-Moreau, C.; Petrosyan, V. G.; Pomiankowski, A.; Presgraves, D. C.; Safronova, L. D.; Sutter, A.; Unckless, R. L.; Verspoor, R. L.; Wedell, N.; Wilkinson, G. S.; Price, T. A. R.,  Trends in Ecology & Evolution,  31:315-326. 2016.
Meiotic drivers are genetic variants that selfishly manipulate the production of gametes to increase their own rate of transmission, often to the detriment of the rest of the genome and the individual that carries them. This genomic conflict potentially occurs whenever a diploid ...

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 ...

The ability to gain matings, not sperm competition, reduces the success of males carrying a selfish genetic element in a fly

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Verspoor, RLH, G. D. D.; Price, T. A. R.,  Animal Behaviour,  115:207-215. 2016.
Females are expected to avoid low-quality males fathering their offspring. X chromosome meiotic drive (XCMD) makes males very low-quality mates. XCMDs are X chromosomes that, in males, cause the failure of all Y chromosome sperm, so all functional sperm carry the driving X and ...

The dawn of active genetics

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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 ...

Double trouble: combined action of meiotic drive and Wolbachia feminization in Eurema butterflies

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Kern, PC, J. M.; Kageyama, D.; Riegler, M.,  Biology Letters,  11:20150095. 2015.
Arthropod sex ratios can be manipulated by a diverse range of selfish genetic elements, including maternally inherited Wolbachia bacteria. Feminization by Wolbachia is rare but has been described for Eurema mandarina butterflies. In this species, some phenotypic and functional ...

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. ...

Centromere-associated meiotic drive and female fitness variation in Mimulus

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Fishman, LK, J. K.,  Evolution,  69:1208-1218. 2015.
Female meiotic drive, in which chromosomal variants preferentially segregate to the egg pole during asymmetric female meiosis, is a theoretically pervasive but still mysterious form of selfish evolution. Like other selfish genetic elements, driving chromosomes may be maintained ...

Duplication and adaptive evolution of a key centromeric protein in Mimulus, a genus with female meiotic drive

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Finseth, FRD, Y. Z.; Saunders, A.; Fishman, L.,  Molecular Biology and Evolution,  32:2694-2706. 2015.
The fundamental asymmetry of female meiosis creates an arena for genetic elements to compete for inclusion in the egg, promoting the selfish evolution of centromere variants that maximize their transmission to the future egg. Such "female meiotic drive" has been hypothesized to ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Meiotic drive in mice carrying t-complex in their genome

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Safronova, LDC, V. L.,  Russian Journal of Genetics,  49:885-897. 2013.
The deviation of alleles and chromosomes from Mendelian inheritance is characteristic of the meiotic drive. This review describes the mechanism in question using the best-studied example of transmitted ratio distortion in the heterozygous male mice carrying t-haplotypes. The ...

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 ...

Diversity and abundance of the abnormal chromosome 10 meiotic drive complex in Zea mays

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Kanizay, LBP, T.; Lowry, E. G.; Hufford, M. B.; Peterson, D. G.; Ross-Ibarra, J.; Dawe, R. K.,  Heredity,  110:570-577. 2013.
Maize Abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10) contains a classic meiotic drive system that exploits the asymmetry of meiosis to preferentially transmit itself and other chromosomes containing specialized heterochromatic regions called knobs. The structure and diversity of the Ab10 meiotic ...

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 ...

Mechanism of meiotic drive in mammals

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Chmatal, LF, K.; Schultz, R. M.; Lampson, M. A.,  Molecular Biology of the Cell,  24:3775. 2013.
Meiotic drive is a phenomenon responsible for an unequal representation of alleles or whole chromosomes among gametes as a result of the mechanics of meiotic division (Sandler et Novitski 1957). When it drives segregation of Robertsonian translocations (Rb), a common chromosomal ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Polar bodies–more a lack of understanding than a lack of respect

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S. Schmerler and G. M. Wessel,  Molecular Reproduction and Development,  78:3-8. 2010.
Polar bodies are as diverse as the organisms that produce them. Although in many animals these cells often die following meiotic maturation of the oocyte, in other organisms they are an essential and diverse part of embryonic development. Here we highlight some of this diversity ...

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 ...

The role of meiotic drive in hybrid male sterility

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McDermott, SRN, M. A. F.,  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  365:1265-1272. 2010.
Meiotic drive causes the distortion of allelic segregation away from Mendelian expected ratios, often also reducing fecundity and favouring the evolution of drive suppressors. If different species evolve distinct drive-suppressor systems, then hybrid progeny may be sterile as a ...

Segregation distortion and the evolution of sex-determining mechanisms

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Kozielska, MW, F. J.; Beukeboom, L. W.; Pen, I.,  Heredity,  104:100-112. 2010.
Segregation distorters are alleles that distort normal segregation in their own favour. Sex chromosomal distorters lead to biased sex ratios, and the presence of such distorters, therefore, may induce selection for a change in the mechanism of sex determination. The evolutionary ...

Testosterone has a long-term effect on primary sex ratio of first eggs in pigeons-in search of a mechanism

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Goerlich, VCD, C.; Schaafsma, S. M.; Groothuis, T. G. G.,  General and Comparative Endocrinology,  163:184-192. 2009.
Despite accumulating evidence that birds, in which females are the heterogametic sex, are able to manipulate primary offspring sex ratio, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Steroid hormones. which govern female reproduction and are also accumulated by the developing ...

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 ...

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 ...

Drive and sperm: The evolution and genetics of male meiotic drive

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Presgraves, D,  Sperm Biology: an Evolutionary Perspective,  12:471-506. 2009.
Some selfish genetic elements in eukaryotic genomes have been harnessed to perform essential functions for their hosts, whereas others have gained transmission advantages at the expense of their hosts. Meiotic drive elements are particularly dramatic examples of the latter. ...

Major evolutionary transitions in centromere complexity

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Malik, HSH, S.,  Cell,  138:1067-1082. 2009.
Centromeres are chromosomal elements that are both necessary and sufficient for chromosome segregation. However, the puzzlingly broad range in centromere complexity, from simple "point" centromeres to multi-megabase arrays of DNA satellites, has defied explanation. We posit that ...

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 ...

Broadening the application of evolutionarily based genetic pest management

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Gould, F,  Evolution,  62:500-510. 2008.
Insect- and tick-vectored diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease cause human suffering, and current approaches for prevention are not adequate. Invasive plants and animals such as Scotch broom, zebra mussels, and gypsy moths continue to cause environmental ...

Centromere-associated female meiotic drive entails male fitness costs in Monkeyflowers

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Fishman, LS, A.,  Science,  322:1559-1562. 2008.
Female meiotic drive, in which paired chromosomes compete for access to the egg, is a potentially powerful but rarely documented evolutionary force. In interspecific monkeyflower ( Mimulus) hybrids, a driving M. guttatus allele ( D) exhibits a 98: 2 transmission advantage via ...

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 ...

Rapid evolution of yeast centromeres in the absence of drive

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Bensasson, DZ, M.; Burt, A.; Koufopanou, V.,  Genetics,  178:2161-2167. 2008.
To find the most rapidly evolving regions in the yeast genome we compared most of chromosome III from three closely related lineages of the wild yeast Saccharomyces paradoxits. Unexpectedly, the centromere appears to be the fastest-evolving part of the chromosome, evolving even ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

Introducing desirable transgenes into insect populations using Y-linked meiotic drive – A theoretical assessment

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Huang, YXM, K.; Lloyd, A. L.; Gould, F.,  Evolution,  61:717-726. 2007.
The use of genetic drive mechanisms to replace native mosquito genotypes with individuals bearing antipathogen transgenes is a potential strategy for repressing insect transmission of human diseases such as malaria and dengue. Antipathogen transgenes have been developed and ...

Genetic strategies for controlling mosquito-borne diseases

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F. Gould, K. Magori and Y. Huang,  American Scientist,  94:238. 2006.
Malaria kills more than a million people each year, primarily children under the age of six. Dengue fever is less deadly, but an outbreak can debilitate millions of people and easily overwhelm doctors and hospitals in tropical cities

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 ...

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) ...

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 ...

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 ...

Meiotic drive at the Om locus in wild-derived inbred mouse strains

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Kim, KT, S.; Howard, I. B.; Bell, T. A.; Doherty, H. E.; Ideraabdullah, F.; Detwiler, D. A.; De Villena, F. P. M.,  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society,  84:487-492. 2005.
Meiotic drive is an evolutionary force in which natural selection is uncoupled from organismal fitness. Recently, it has been proposed that meiotic drive and genetic drift represent major forces in the evolution of the mammalian karyotype. Meiotic drive involves two types of ...

A novel meiotic drive locus almost completely distorts segregation in Mimulus (monkeyflower) hybrids

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Fishman, LW, J. H.,  Genetics,  169:347-353. 2005.
We report the discovery, mapping, and characterization of a meiotic drive locus (D) exhibiting nearly 100% nonrandom transmission in hybrids between two species of yellow monkeyflowers, outcrossing Mimulus guttatus and selfing M. nasutus. Only 1% of F-2 hybrids were M. nasutus ...

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 ...

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. ...

Meiotic drive and sex chromosome cycling

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Hall, DW,  Evolution,  58:925-931. 2004.
Sex-linked meiotic drive is found in a broad variety of taxa, including insects, birds, and mammals. In populations of some species, we see four types of sex chromosomes segregating: normal and driving X chromosomes and susceptible and resistant Y chromosomes. A theoretical ...

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 ...

Sperm survival in female stalk-eyed flies depends on seminal fluid and meiotic drive

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Fry, CLW, G. S.,  Evolution,  58:1622-1626. 2004.
Sperm competition is common in many insect species; however, the mechanisms underlying differences in sperm precedence are not well understood. In the stalk-eyed fly, Cyrtodiopsis whitei (Diptera, Diopsidae), sperm precedence is influenced by the presence of sex chromosome ...

To what extent do different types of sex ratio distorters interfere?

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Engelstadter, JM, H.; Hurst, G. D. D.,  Evolution,  58:2382-2386. 2004.
Within the Diptera, two different selfish genetic elements are known to cause the production of female-biased sex ratios: maternally inherited bacteria that kill male zygotes (male-killers), and X chromosomes causing the degeneration of Y-bearing sperm in males (meiotic drive). ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

Sperm development, age and sex chromosome meiotic drive in the stalk-eyed fly, Cyrtodiopsis whitei

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Wilkinson, GSS, M. I.,  Heredity,  87:17-24. 2001.
The cytological basis of X chromosome meiotic drive or sex ratio (SR) has been reported for several species of Drosophila but not for other species. Here we describe how sperm development in the stalk-eyed fly, Cyrtodiopsis whitei, influences progeny sex proportion, in order to ...

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 ...

Selection and segregation distortion in a sex-differentiated population

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Weissing, FJvB, M.,  Theoretical Population Biology,  60:327-341. 2001.
We extend the classical model for selection at an autosomal locus in a sex-differentiated population to include segregation distortion. The equations remain the same, but the fitness parameters are interpreted differently and refer to alleles instead of genotypes. We derive ...

Competition at the Mouse t Complex: Rare Alleles Are Inherently Favored

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van Boven, MW, Franz J.,  Theoretical Population Biology,  60:343-358. 2001.
We investigate the competition between alleles at a segregation distorter locus. The focus is on the invasion prospects of rare mutant distorter alleles in a population in which a wildtype and a resident distorter allele are present. The parameters are chosen to reflect the ...

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 ...

An unusual sex-determination system in South American field mice (genus Akodon): The role of mutation, selection, and meiotic drive in maintaining XY females

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Hoekstra, HEH, J. M.,  Evolution,  55:190-197. 2001.
The mechanism of sex determination in mammals appears highly conserved: the presence of a Y chromosome triggers the male developmental pathway, whereas the absence of a Y chromosome results in a default female phenotype. However, if the Y chromosome fails to initiate the male ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Segregation distortion of mouse t-haplotypes: The molecular basis emerges

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Schimenti, J,  Trends in Genetics,  16:240-243. 2000.
The t haplotype is an ancestral version of proximal mouse chromosome 17 that has evolved mechanisms to persist as an intact genomic variant in mouse populations. t haplotypes contain mutations that affect embryonic development, male fertility and male transmission ratio ...

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. ...

Genetic and molecular characterization of sting, a gene involved in crystal formation and meiotic drive in the male germ line of Drosophila melanogaster

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Schmidt, AP, G.; Bozzetti, M. P.; Tritto, P.; Pimpinelli, S.; Schafer, U.,  Genetics,  151:749-760. 1999.
The sting mutation, caused by a P element inserted into polytene region 32D, was isolated by a screen for male sterile insertions in Drosophila melanogaster. This sterility is correlated with the presence of crystals in spermatocytes and spermatids that are structurally ...

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 ...

How common are meiotically driving sex chromosomes in insects?

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Jiggins, FMH, G. D. D.; Majerus, M. E. N.,  American Naturalist,  154:481-483. 1999.
In summary, we argue that the hypothesis that sex chromosome; meiotic drive is common within the insects is in; fact not proved. We feel that, although it is unlikely that; it will be found exclusively in the Diptera, there is a case; to be made that the Diptera are a hot spot ...

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 ...

Evolution of segregation distortion: Potential for a high degree of polymorphism

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van Boven, MW, F. J.,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  192:131-142. 1998.
By means of a population genetical model, we study the evolution of segregation distortion. Most models of segregation distortion focus on a single distorter allele. In contrast, we consider the competition between a large number of distorters. Motivated by systems as the t ...

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 ...

Sex ratio distortion in Acraea encedon (Lepidoptera : Nymphalidae) is caused by a male-killing bacterium

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Jiggins, FMH, G. D. D.; Majerus, M. E. N.,  Heredity,  81:87-91. 1998.
Females of the butterfly Acraea encedon produce either entirely female offspring or males and females in an almost 1:1 sex ratio. The sex ratio produced is maternally inherited and was previously attributed to sex chromosome meiotic drive. We report that all-female lineages are ...

Selfish genes and meiotic drive

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Hurst, LD,  Nature,  391:223-223. 1998.
Work by Gerald Wilkinson and colleagues3 on stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae), described on page 276, provides the strongest evidence to date about the nature of some of the genes females prefer. As their name suggests, stalk-eyed flies have their eyes perched on the end of ...

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 ...

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 ...

Abnormal spermiogenesis is associated with the X-linked sex-ratio trait in Drosophila simulans

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MontchampMoreau, CJ, D.,  Heredity,  79:24-30. 1997.
The sex-ratio trait, known in several Drosophila species, results from X-linked meiotic drive that affects Y-bearing sperm and causes males to produce female-biased progeny. We describe spermiogenesis in three types of D, simulans males: wild-type, sex-ratio, and males that bear ...

Segregation distortion in unstructured and structured populations: Competition between ‘sterile’ t haplotypes

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VanBoven, MW, F. J.,  Netherlands Journal of Zoology,  46:216-226. 1996.
By means of two simple models we investigate the competition between sex-specific segregation distorters in unstructured and structured populations. The models are motivated by the t complex of the house mouse. Some variants at this gene complex, the t haplotypes, distort ...

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 ...

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) ...

Analysis of meiotic segregation, using single-sperm typing: Meiotic drive at the myotonic dystrophy locus

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Leeflang, EPM, M. S.; Arnheim, N.,  American Journal of Human Genetics,  59:896-904. 1996.
Meiotic drive at the myotonic dystrophy (DM) locus has recently been suggested as being responsible for maintaining the frequency, in the human population, of DM chromosomes capable of expansion to the disease state. In order to test this hypothesis, we have studied samples of ...

The mouse t-complex-encoded protein Tctex-1 is a light chain of brain cytoplasmic dynein

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King, SMD, J. F.; Benashski, S. E.; Lye, R. J.; PatelKing, R. S.; Pfister, K. K.,  Journal of Biological Chemistry,  271:32281-32287. 1996.
Mammalian brain cytoplasmic dynein contains three light chains of M(r) = 8,000, 14,000, add 22,000 (King, S. M., Barbarese, E., Dillman, J. F., III, Patel-King, R. S., Carson, J. H., and Pfister, K. Kr (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 19358-19366). Peptide sequence data (16/16 residues ...

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 ...

Evidence for B chromosome drive suppression in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans

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Herrera, JAL, M. D.; Cabrero, J.; Shaw, M. W.; Camacho, J. P. M.,  Heredity,  76:633-639. 1996.
The grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans is polymorphic for both a B chromosome and a heterochromatic segment of chromatin on the smallest autosome. Females transmit these to their offspring more frequently after copulating with a male from a population without Bs than after ...

Meiotic drive in female mice: An essay

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Ruvinsky, A,  Mammalian Genome,  6:315-320. 1995.
Since the rediscovery of Mendel's laws, geneticists have accumulated various examples in which equal meiotic segregation in heterozygotes is violated. However, only a few natural meiotic drive systems have been characterized in detail and the majority of these are sex chromosome ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Divergence of meiotic drive-suppression systems as an explanation for sex-biased hybrid sterility and inviability

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Frank, SA,  Evolution,  45:262-267. 1991.
Two empirical generalizations about speciation remain unexplained: the tendency of the heterogametic sex to be sterile or inviable in F1 hybrids (Haldane's rule), and the tendency of the X chromosome to harbor the genetic elements that cause this sex bias in hybrid fitness. I ...

A comparative approach to the population genetics theory of segregation distortion

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Feldman, MWO, Sarah P.,  American Naturalist,  137:443-456. 1991.
Mathematical models of four well-known naturally occurring systems of segregation distortion are compared. These include the sex-ratio chromosome of Drosophila pseudoobscura, the Segregation Distorter (SD) complex of D. melanogaster, the t locus in Mus musculus, and the sex-ratio ...

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 ...

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, ...

Segregation distorters

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Lyttle, TW,  Annual Review of Genetics,  25:511-557. 1991.
Segregation distorters are genetic elements that exhibit the phenomenon of meiotic drive; that is, the mechanics of the meiotic divisions cause one member of a pair of heterozygous alleles or heteromorphic chromosomes to be transmitted to progeny in excess of the expected ...

Sander,Larry – The father of meiotic drive

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Lindsley, DL,  American Naturalist,  137:283-286. 1991.
The symposium at which the following papers were presented was deprived of what surely would have been a major intellectual contribution by the sudden death of its co-organizer, Larry Sandler, in February 1987. Larry was a leading contributor to the study of segregation ...

Molecular and chromosomal studies on the origin of t-haplotypes in mice

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Hammer, MF,  American Naturalist,  137:359-365. 1991.
Mouse t haplotypes are variant forms of the proximal third of chromosome 17 that enhance their representation in the gene pool by means of a male-specific transmission-ratio distortion. As with other systems of meiotic drive, they are maintained as independent genetic entities by ...

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 ...

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 ...

Polymorphism in the rates of meiotic drive acting on the B-chromosome of Myrmeleotettix maculatus

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Shaw, MWH, G. M.; Anderson, D. A.,  Heredity,  55:61-68. 1985.
A survey of all the available data on meiotic transmission rates in M. maculatus suggests that a polymorphism in female transmission rate exists in most natural populations. Differences in the frequency of the types or in the transmission rates they manifest may exist between ...

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 ...

A theoretical-analysis of the effects of sex-chromosome aneuploidy on X-chromosome and Y-chromosome meiotic drive

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Lyttle, TW,  Evolution,  36:822-831. 1982.
Extra sex chromosomes are normally detrimental to the individual carrying them. In XY (or WZ) sex determining systems, an extra X chromosome in the homogametic sex generates enough X-autosome imbalance to usually cause inviability, or at least sterility. On the oth- er hand, ...

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 ...

A 2-locus model for polymorphism for sex-linked meiotic drive modifiers with possible applications to Aedes aegypti

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Maffi, GJ, S. D.,  Theoretical Population Biology,  19:19-36. 1981.
A two-locus model is presented which shows the possibility of maintaining a polymorphism for modifiers of sex-linked meiotic drive in the absence of fitness differences. The model is very similar to the situation actually found in some laboratory strains of the mosquito Aedes ...

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-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+ ...

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 ...

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: ...

Modifier theory of meiotic drive: Is Mendelial segregation stable

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Liberman, U,  Theoretical Population Biology,  10:127-132. 1976.
The evolutionary fate of rare modifiers, based on the modifier theory of meiotic drive, is studied in this paper. It is shown that a polymorphism based on Mendelian segregation is never stable for any recombination frequencies between 0 and 12, and that, for tight linkage between ...

Population genetics of modifiers of meiotic drive 4: Evolution of sex-ratio distortion

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Thomson, GJF, M. W.,  Theoretical Population Biology,  8:202-211. 1975.
A model for the evolution of the sex-ratio meiotic drive system in Drosophila is proposed and analyzed. The model incorporates drive and altered fertility genetic modification The condition change in the sex-ratio of the modifying distortion overcome any relative of meiotic in ...

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 ...

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, ...

Mechanisms of meiotic drive

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Zimmering, SS, L.; Nicoletti, B.,  Annual Review of Genetics,  4:409-436. 1970.
Meiotic drive has been defined by Sandler & Novitski (157) as any alteration of the normal process of meiosis with the consequence that a heterozygote for two genetic alternatives produces an effective gametic pool with an excess of one type; such a pattern of behavior ...

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, ...

Meiotic drive and visible polarity in Drosophila spermatocytes

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Yanders, AFB, J. G.; Peacock, W. J.; Goodchild, D. J.,  Genetics,  59:245-253. 1968.
The model for meiotic drive presented by PEACOCK and ERICKSON (1965) demands that an intracellular differentiation exists at the time of the first meiotic division in spermatocytes. As a result of this differentiation, one of the spindle poles at anaphase I will lead to the ...

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 ...

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). ...

On the role of lethal mutants in the control of populations

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R. C. Von Borstel and A. A. Buzzati-Traverso,  Radioisotopes and Radiation in Entomology: Proceedings of a Symposium, Bombay, 5-9 December, 1960,  1962:273-278. 1962.
On the role of lethal. mutants in the control of populations. Population control by release of irradiated males requires that the sperm must be damaged by radiation. The type of damage induced by radiation imposes a restriction on which species may be controlled because if the ...

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 ...

Meiotic drive in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster .6: A preliminary report on presence of segregation-distortion in a Baja california population

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Mange, EJ,  American Naturalist,  95:87-96. 1961.
Meiotic drive is a term coined by Sandler and Novitski (1957) to describe; the situation whereby a heterozygote produces gametes containing an excess; of one allele, rather than the expected equality. As a consequence of such; aberrant segregations, gene frequencies within a ...

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 ...

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 3: Populational implications of the Segregation-Distorter locus

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Hiraizumi, YS, L.; Crow, J. E.,  Evolution,  14:433-444. 1960.
If, among the successful gametes frm heterozygotes, one allele is regularly included in more than half, it may increase in frequency even if it has a harmful effect. Unequal gamete production, when attributable to the mechanics of meiosis, has been called meiotic drive (Sandler ...

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 ...

Meiotic drive as an evolutionary force

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Sandler, L. and Novitski, E.,  American Naturalist,  91:105-110. 1957.
A heterozygote for alleles A and A' ordinarilly produces gametes carrying each of the alleles with a frequency of 50 per cent. The constancy of allele frequencies from one generation to the nest in natural populations of diploid species depends on this equality, which itself ...

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 ...

Preferential segregation in maize

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M. M. Rhoades,  Genetics,  27:395-407. 1942.
An abnormal type of chromosome 10, found by Longley in maize from the s.-w. part of the U. S., is preferentially segregated during megasporogenesis. More than 70% of the ovules receive the abnormal chromosome instead of the 50% expected with random segregation. At pachytene the ...

A new sex-ratio abnormality in Drosophila obscura

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S. Gershenson,  Genetics,  13:488. 1928.
1. The sex-ratio in the normal lines of Drosophila obscura is very near to the theoretical 1 : 1. 2. Out of 19 females caught in nature, two were heterozygous for a gene which causes strong deviations in the normal sex distribution. 3. The researches made have shown that this ...

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 ...