Keywords: X chromosome

Functional validation of a white pupae minimal gene construct in Ceratitis capitata

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Lucas Henrique Figueiredo Prates, Roswitha A. Aumann, Inga Sievers, et al.,  Insect Science,  2025.
Genetic sexing strains (GSS) are important tools for the sterile insect technique (SIT), an environmentally friendly and species-specific insect pest control method. GSS feature sex-specific phenotypes, enabling sex sorting in mass-rearing facilities and male-only releases, which ...

A selfish supergene causes meiotic drive through both sexes in Drosophila

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G.L. Keais,C.M. Saad-Roy,E. Gonzalez-Sqalli, et al.,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  122. 2025.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that bias their own transmission during meiosis or gamete formation. Due to the fundamental differences between male and female meiosis in animals and plants, meiotic drivers operate through distinct mechanisms in the two sexes: In ...

Reenacting a mouse genetic evolutionary arms race in yeast reveals that SLXL1/SLX compete with SLY1/2 for binding to Spindlins

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M.F. Arlt,A.N. Kruger,C.M. Swanepoel,& J.L. Mueller,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  122. 2025.
In the house mouse, an evolutionary arms race between proteins encoded by the X-linked Slxl1/Slx and Y-linked Sly gene families during spermatogenesis can distort offspring sex ratio, but how these proteins compete remains unknown. We report how SLXL1/SLX competes with SLY1/SLY2 ...

Meiotic Drive and Speciation

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Jeremy B. Searle and Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena,  Annual Review of Genetics,  58:341-363. 2024.
Meiotic drive is the biased transmission of alleles from heterozygotes, contrary to Mendel's laws, and reflects intragenomic conflict rather than organism-level Darwinian selection. Theory has been developed as to how centromeric properties can promote female meiotic drive and ...

Stalk-eyed flies carrying a driving X chromosome compensate by increasing fight intensity

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Kimberly A. Paczolt, Macy E. Pritchard, Gabrielle T. Welsh, et al.,  Frontiers in Ethology,  3. 2024.
Exaggerated ornaments provide opportunities to understand how selection can operate at different levels to shape the evolution of a trait. While these features aid their bearer in attracting mates or fending off competitors, they can also be costly and influenced by 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 ...

The haplolethal gene wupA of Drosophila exhibits potential as a target for an X-poisoning gene drive

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Clancy D. Lawler, Ana Karla Parra Nuñez, Natalia Hernandes, Soumitra Bhide, Isabelle Lohrey, Simon Baxter, Charles Robin,  bioRxiv,  2024.
A synthetic gene drive that targets haplolethal genes on the X-chromosome can skew the sex ratio towards males. Like an ‘X-shredder’ it does not involve ‘homing’ and that has advantages including the reduction of gene drive resistance allele formation. We examine this ...

Introgression of a synthetic sex ratio distortion transgene into different genetic backgrounds of Anopheles coluzzii

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P. Pollegioni, T. Persampieri, R. L. Minuz, A. Bucci, A. Trusso, S. Di Martino, C. Leo, M. Bruttini, M. Ciolfi, A. M. Waldvogel, F. Tripet, A. Simoni, A. Crisanti and R. Müller,  Insect Molecular Biology,  2022.
The development of genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) and their subsequent field release offers innovative approaches for vector control of malaria. A non-gene drive self-limiting male-bias Ag(PMB)1 strain has been developed in a 47-year-old laboratory G3 strain of Anopheles ...

Anopheles homing suppression drive candidates exhibit unexpected performance differences in simulations with spatial structure

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S. E. Champer, I. K. Kim, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer,  eLife,  11:e79121. 2022.
Recent experiments have produced several Anopheles gambiae homing gene drives that disrupt female fertility genes, thereby eventually inducing population collapse. Such drives may be highly effective tools to combat malaria. One such homing drive, based on the zpg promoter ...

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 ...

Slow and steady wins the race: spatial and stochastic processes and the failure of suppression gene drives

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J. F. Paril and B. L. Phillips,  Molecular Ecology,  2022.
Gene drives that skew sex ratios offer a new management tool to suppress or eradicate pest populations. Early models and empirical work suggest that these suppression drives can completely eradicate well-mixed populations, but models that incorporate stochasticity and space ...

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 ...

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 ...

Finding the strongest gene drive: Simulations reveal unexpected performance differences between Anopheles homing suppression drive candidates

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S. E. Champer, I. K. Kim, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer,  bioRxiv,  2022.03.28.486009. 2022.
Recent experiments have produced several Anopheles gambiae homing gene drives that disrupt female fertility genes, thereby eventually inducing population collapse. Such drives may be highly effective tools to combat malaria. One such homing drive, based on the zpg promoter ...

CRISPR-Cas9 effectors facilitate generation of single-sex litters and sex-specific phenotypes

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C. Douglas, V. Maciulyte, J. Zohren, D. M. Snell, S. K. Mahadevaiah, O. A. Ojarikre, P. J. I. Ellis and J. M. A. Turner,  Nature Communications,  12:6926. 2021.
Animals are essential genetic tools in scientific research and global resources in agriculture. In both arenas, a single sex is often required in surplus. The ethical and financial burden of producing and culling animals of the undesired sex is considerable. Using the mouse as a ...

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 ...

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 ...

Mice Plague Eastern Australia in Record Numbers

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B. Nogrady,  The Scientist,  2021.
Just before Christmas last year, Julie Leven and her husband Des took their camper up to visit their son in northern New South Wales, Australia. Driving back at night to their home in Gilgandra, around 430 kilometers northwest of Sydney, they saw masses of white spots moving ...

Selfish DNA: how new gene technology could stop the advance of mice

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M. McMillan,  Tentenfield Star,  2021.
It used to be that seeing a mouse in the house was a rare occurrence. Now, it's rarely a day that goes by where we aren't seeing or hearing the little vermin. Current methods of baiting and trapping are struggling to control the plague of mice spreading across regional ...

Victory: NSW Government Invests in Humane Mice Control!

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PETA Australia,  PETA Australia,  2021.
Just two weeks after calling us “brainless” for suggesting that the state government invest in more ethical, eco-friendly methods of mice control – Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall announced a $1.8 million package to “fast-track the delivery of next generation ...

Gene drive could be a game changer for future mouse control.

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Anonymous,  Centre for Invasive Species Solutions,  2021.
We are proud to announce we will be coordinating a brand new, three-year program of genetic biocontrol research, which will identify fast acting gene drives designed to spread an inherited characteristic through a population at higher-than-normal rates. Using targeted gene ...

“Gene Drive” Technology To Control Mouse Invasions | Liverpool City Champion

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T. Carrington,  Liverpool IL,  2021.
As western New South Wales faces a devastating mouse plague, the government is investing in groundbreaking genetic biocontrol research that could transform pest management in Australia. Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the NSW government will provide $ 1.8 million for the ...

Australia plots biological warfare to eradicate rampaging ‘mouse plague’

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J. Smyth,  Financial Times,  2021.
Australia is home to some of the world’s most fearsome creatures. But none is more destructive than the humble house mouse, a plague of which is rampaging across vast swaths of farmland and terrorising countryfolk. Farmers in New South Wales, the worst affected state, warned ...

Mouse plague control hopes raised with funding for genetic biocontrol research

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Anonymous,  From Press,  2021.
As communities and farmers continue to battle the mouse plague, a funding announcement for genetic biocontrol research could be a potential game changer for future plagues. The New South Wales government has today announced a $50 million mouse control package which includes $1.8 ...

‘Gene drive’ tech to control mice plagues

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AAP,  Countryman,  2021.
As western NSW deals with a devastating mouse plague the government is investing in breakthrough genetic biocontrol research that could transform pest management in Australia. Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the NSW government would provide $1.8 million to the project to ...

Major fly pest genetically modified in lab to produce more males

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H. Dunning,  Imperial College London,  2021.
It has been predicted that the world's population will increase to over nine billion people by 2050, and that global food production will need to increase by around 70 percent to match this rate of change. Lead researcher Dr Angela Meccariello, from the Department of Life ...

Engineered sex ratio distortion by X-shredding in the global agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata

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A. Meccariello, F. Krsticevic, R. Colonna, G. Del Corsano, B. Fasulo, P. A. Papathanos and N. Windbichler,  BMC Biology,  19:78. 2021.
Genetic sex ratio distorters are systems aimed at effecting a bias in the reproductive sex ratio of a population and could be applied for the area-wide control of sexually reproducing insects that vector disease or disrupt agricultural production. One example of such a system ...

Modeling impact and cost-effectiveness of gene drives for malaria elimination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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N. Metchanun, C. Borgemeister, G. Amzati, J. von Braun, M. Nikolov, P. Selvaraj and J. Gerardin,  medRxiv,  2020.06.29.20142760. 2021.
Using a spatially explicit, agent-based model of malaria transmission in eight representative provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we predict the impact and cost-effectiveness of integrating driving-Y gene drive mosquitoes in malaria elimination strategies that ...

The New Yorker Magazine: Gene Drives as a Tool for Saving Nature

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E. Heber,  Island Conservation,  2021.
In a recent New Yorker Magazine article, entitled “CRISPR and the Splice to Survive,” journalist and best-selling author Elizabeth Kolbert dives into the world of gene drive research. She touches on aspects of gene drive research from altering the toxin produced by cane toads ...

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 ...

Role of gene drives in malaria elimination strategy: modeling impact and cost-effectiveness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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N. Metchanun, C. Borgemeister, J. von Braun, M. Nikolov, P. Selvaraj and J. Gerardin,  medRxiv,  2020.
The tremendous burden of malaria has led to renewed efforts on malaria elimination and the development of novel tools for application where existing tools fall short. Gene drive mosquitoes, where transgenes and their associated phenotypes are efficiently propagated to future ...

Genetic Biocontrol – An Overview (video 13.13 min)

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GeneConvene Global Collaborative,  2020.
This video explains what genetic biocontrol is and surveys various technologies that can be consider genetic biocontrol technologies.  It offers a conceptual organization of the various technologies based on the potential of genetic biocontrol organisms to persist and spread in ...

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 ...

Fitness consequences of a non-recombining sex-ratio drive chromosome can explain its prevalence in the wild

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Dyer, K. A. and D. W. Hall,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  286:20192529. 2019.
Understanding the pleiotropic consequences of gene drive systems on host fitness is essential to predict their spread through a host population. Here, we study sex-ratio (SR) X-chromosome drive in the fly Drosophila recens, where SR causes the death of Y-bearing sperm in male ...

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

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

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 ...

A Y-chromosome shredding gene drive for controlling pest vertebrate populations

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Prowse, TAAA, F.; Cassey, P.; Thomas, P.; Ross, J. V.,  eLife,  8:19. 2019.
Self-replicating gene drives that modify sex ratios or infer a fitness cost could be used to control populations of invasive alien species. The targeted deletion of Y sex chromosomes using CRISPR technology offers a new approach for sex bias that could be incorporated within ...

A genetic system for biasing the sex ratio in mice

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Yosef, IEB, Liat; Globus, Rea; Shlomovitz, Inbar; Munitz, Ariel; Gerlic, Motti; Qimron, Udi,  EMBO reports,  20:e48269. 2019.
Biasing the sex ratio of populations of different organisms, including plants, insects, crustacean, and fish, has been demonstrated by genetic and non-genetic approaches. However, biasing the sex ratio of mammalian populations has not been demonstrated genetically. Here, we ...

Genetic manipulation of sex ratio in mammals: the Reaper comes for Mickey

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Smanski, MJZ, David,  EMBO reports,  20:e48577. 2019.
In most animals, sexual reproduction results in a 1:1 ratio of females to males. For several sectors of agriculture, for example, milk or egg production, only a single sex is needed. Biasing the sex ratio so that only offspring of the desired sex are produced has the potential to ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

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

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

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

B Chromosomes – A matter of chromosome drive

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

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 ...

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

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Pieper, KED, K. A.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  29:2229-2241. 2016.
The sex-ratio X-chromosome (SR) is a selfish chromosome that promotes its own transmission to the next generation by destroying Y-bearing sperm in the testes of carrier males. In some natural populations of the fly Drosophila neotestacea, up to 30% of the X-chromosomes are SR ...

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 ...

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 ...

On the origin of sex chromosomes from meiotic drive

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Ubeda, FP, M. M.; Wild, G.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  282:20141932. 2015.
Most animals and many plants make use of specialized chromosomes (sex chromosomes) to determine an individual's sex. Best known are the XY and ZW sex-determination systems. Despite having evolved numerous times, sex chromosomes present something of an evolutionary puzzle. At ...

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 ...

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

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

Sex-ratio meiotic drive and interspecific competition

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Unckless, RLC, A. G.,  Journal of Evolutionary Biology,  27:1513-1521. 2014.
It has long been known that processes occurring within a species may impact the interactions between species. For example, as competitive ability is sensitive to parameters including reproductive rate, carrying capacity and competition efficiency, the outcome of interspecific ...

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 ...

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 ...

Evolution and biology of supernumerary B chromosomes

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Houben, AB-M, A. M.; Klemme, S.; Timmis, J. N.,  Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences,  71:467-478. 2014.
B chromosomes (Bs) are dispensable components of the genome exhibiting non-Mendelian inheritance and have been widely reported on over several thousand eukaryotes, but still remain an evolutionary mystery ever since their first discovery over a century ago [1]. Recent advances in ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scrambling eggs: Meiotic drive and the evolution of female recombination rates

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Brandvain, YC, G.,  Genetics,  190:709-723. 2012.
Theories to explain the prevalence of sex and recombination have long been a central theme of evolutionary biology. Yet despite decades of attention dedicated to the evolution of sex and recombination, the widespread pattern of sex differences in the recombination rate is not ...

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

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

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

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

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 ...

Segregation analysis of a sex ratio distortion locus in congenic mice

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

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

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

Sex ratio distorter reduces sperm competitive ability in an insect

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

X chromosome drive

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Jaenike, J,  Current Biology,  18:R508-R511. 2008.
In the past 10 years, the world record for the men's 100 meter dash has declined from 9.79 to 9.74 seconds, the detection of such small differences being made possible by sophisticated electronic timing devices. If someone were to run the 100 meters in 9.73999 seconds in the 2008 ...

Chromosome-wide linkage disequilibrium as a consequence of meiotic drive

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

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 ...

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

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

Genetic linkage between a sexually selected trait and X chromosome meiotic drive

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Johns, PMW, L. L.; Wilkinson, G. S.,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences,  272:2097-2103. 2005.
Previous studies on the stalk-eyed fly, Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni, have shown that males with long eye-stalks win contests and are preferred by females, and artificial selection on male relative eye span alters brood sex-ratios. Subsequent theory proposes that X-linked meiotic drive ...

Sex chromosome meiotic drive in hybrid males of the common shrew (Sorex araneus)

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Fedyk, SB, U.; Chetnicki, W.,  Folia Biologica-Krakow,  53:133-141. 2005.
Patterns of sex chromosome segregation in six homozygous males of the common Shrew (Sorex araneus LINNAEUS, 1758) belonging to two chromosomal races, as well as in 16 interracial hybrids were studied. I ascd on their karyotypes the hybrids can be subdivided into two groups: (a) ...

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 ...

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 ...

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). ...

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 ...

Sex-ratio drive in Drosophila simulans: Variation in segregation ratio of X chromosomes from a natural population

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Montchamp-Moreau, CC, M.,  Genetics,  162:1221-1231. 2002.
The sex-ratio trait that exists in a dozen Drosophila species is a case of naturally occurring X chromosome drive that causes males to produce female-biased progeny. Autosomal and Y polymorphism for suppressors are known to cause variation in drive expression, but the X ...

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 ...

Sex chromosome meiotic drive

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Jaenike, J,  Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics,  32:25-49. 2001.
Sex chromosome drive refers to the unequal transmission of X and Y chromosomes from individuals of the heterogametic sex, resulting in biased sex ratios among progeny and within populations, The presence of driving sex chromosomes can reduce mean fitness within a population, ...

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

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

Nonrandom segregation of the mouse univalent X chromosome: Evidence of spindle-mediated meiotic drive

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LeMaire-Adkins, RH, P. A.,  Genetics,  156:775-783. 2000.
A fundamental principle of Mendelian inheritance is random segregation of alleles to progeny; however, examples of distorted transmission either of specific alleles or of whole chromosomes have been described in a variety of species. In humans and mice, a distortion in chromosome ...

Models of sex-ratio meiotic drive and sexual selection in stalk-eyed flies

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Lande, RW, G. S.,  Genetics Research,  74:245-253. 1999.
Hypertrophied sexually dimorphic eye stalks have evolved independently in several families of Diptera, with the eyespan of males exceeding their total body length in some species. These structures function in intermale contests for territories and in mate attraction, the ...

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 ...

Suppression of sex-ratio meiotic drive and the maintenance of Y-chromosome polymorphism in Drosophila

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Jaenike, J,  Evolution,  53:164-174. 1999.
Like several other species of Drosophila, D. quinaria is polymorphic for X-chromosome meiotic drive; matings involving males that carry a "sex-ratio" X chromosome (X(SR)) result in the production of strongly female-biased offspring sex ratios (Jaenike 1996). A survey of isofemale ...

Are Drosophila SR drive chromosomes always balanced?

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

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

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

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 ...

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

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

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

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

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 ...

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 ...

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

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

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 ...

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

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

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 ...

X-chromosome segregation distortion in Drosophila

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

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

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

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...