Gene drives

We find evidence that the mitochondrial DNA carried by Drosophila larvae affects the fitness of other cohabiting larvae – a mitochondrial ‘indirect genetic effect’. This result implies that the effects of mitochondrial DNA on the phenotype of males (specifically, male larvae) may have evolutionary consequences, in contrast to the received wisdom that mtDNA inside males is ‘invisible to selection’ due to maternal inheritance of mtDNA.

This review summarizes our current understanding of the evolution of resistance to naturally-occurring and synthetically-created gene …

We measured the effects of a natural gene drive, Sex Ratio (SR), on fitness in Drosophila pseudoobscura. We find that SD is very costly, especially when homozygous, and that it also has transgenerational effects on offspring fitness and sex ratio. Using a model, we show that these effects may explain the frequency and clinal patterns of SR in nature.

We measured the effects of a natural gene drive, Segregation Distorter (SD), on fitness in Drosophila melanogaster. We find that SD is very costly, especially when homozygous, and that it also has transgenerational effects on offspring fitness and sex ratio. Using a model, we show that these effects may explain the puzzling rarity of SD in nature.

This paper presents eco-evo simulations investigating the feasibility of a newly-proposed type of gene drive, the W-shredder. W-shredders might someday be used to control populations of pests and pathogens that have ZW sex determination, such as Lepidopteran pests, parasitic trematodes, and cane toads.

Population genetics of natural and synthetic gene drives

Both naturally occurring and synthetic ‘meiotic drivers’ violate Mendel’s law of equal segregation and can rapidly spread through …

Segregation distorters located on sex chromosomes are predicted to sweep to fixation and cause extinction via a shortage of one sex, …

As recently outlined in TREE [1], many animals and plants are thought to load their male gametes with multiple types of RNA, some of …