PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Takashi Akera
AU  - Lukáš Chmátal
AU  - Emily Trimm
AU  - Karren Yang
AU  - Chanat Aonbangkhen
AU  - David M. Chenoweth
AU  - Carsten Janke
AU  - Richard M. Schultz
AU  - Michael A. Lampson
TI  - Spindle asymmetry drives non-Mendelian chromosome segregation
AID  - 10.1101/180869
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 180869
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/27/180869.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/27/180869.full
AB  - Genetic elements compete for transmission through meiosis, when haploid gametes are created from a diploid parent. Selfish elements can enhance their transmission through meiotic drive, in violation of Mendel’s Law of Segregation. In female meiosis, selfish elements drive by preferentially attaching to the egg side of the spindle, which implies some asymmetry between the two sides of the spindle, but molecular mechanisms underlying spindle asymmetry are unknown. Here we show that CDC42 signaling from the cell cortex regulates microtubule tyrosination to induce spindle asymmetry, and non-Mendelian segregation depends on this asymmetry. These signals depend on cortical polarization directed by chromosomes, which are positioned near the cortex to allow the asymmetric cell division. Thus, selfish meiotic drivers exploit the asymmetry inherent in female meiosis to bias their transmission.