Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

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

View ORCID ProfileMaría Angélica Bravo Núñez, View ORCID ProfileIbrahim M. Sabbarini, Michael T. Eickbush, View ORCID ProfileYue Liang, View ORCID ProfileJeffrey J. Lange, View ORCID ProfileAubrey M. Kent, View ORCID ProfileSarah E. Zanders
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/728535
María Angélica Bravo Núñez
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for María Angélica Bravo Núñez
Ibrahim M. Sabbarini
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Ibrahim M. Sabbarini
Michael T. Eickbush
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Yue Liang
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Yue Liang
Jeffrey J. Lange
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Jeffrey J. Lange
Aubrey M. Kent
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Aubrey M. Kent
Sarah E. Zanders
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
2Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Sarah E. Zanders
  • For correspondence: sez@stowers.org
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic loci that force their transmission into more than 50% of the viable gametes made by heterozygotes. Meiotic drivers are known to cause infertility in a diverse range of eukaryotes and are predicted to affect the evolution of genome structure and meiosis. The wtf gene family of Schizosaccharomyces pombe includes both meiotic drivers and drive suppressors and thus offers a tractable model organism to study drive systems. Currently, only a handful of wtf genes have been functionally characterized and those genes only partially reflect the diversity of the wtf gene family. In this work, we functionally test 22 additional wtf genes. We identify eight new drivers that share between 30-90% amino acid identity with previously characterized drivers. Despite the vast divergence between these genes, they generally drive into >85% gametes when heterozygous. We also find three new wtf genes that suppress drive, including two that also act as autonomous drivers. Additionally, we find that wtf genes do not underlie a weak (64%) transmission bias caused by a locus or loci on chromosome 1. Finally, we find that some Wtf proteins have expression or localization patterns that are distinct from the poison and antidote proteins encoded by drivers and suppressors, suggesting some wtf genes may have non-meiotic drive functions. Overall, this work expands our understanding of the wtf gene family and the burden selfish driver genes impose on S. pombe.

Article Summary 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 behavior is known as meiotic drive. Some members of the wtf gene family in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, kill the gametes (spores) that do not inherit them, resulting in meiotic drive favoring the wtf allele. Other wtf genes act as suppressors of drive. However, the wtf gene family is diverse and only a small subset of the genes has been characterized. Here we analyze the functions of other members of this gene family and found eight new drivers as well as three new suppressors of drive. Surprisingly, we find that drive is relatively insensitive to changes in wtf gene sequence as highly diverged wtf genes execute gamete killing with similar efficiency. Finally, we also find that the expression and localization of some Wtf proteins are distinct from those of known drivers and suppressors, suggesting that these proteins may have non-meiotic drive functions.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted August 07, 2019.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Dramatically diverse S. pombe wtf meiotic drivers all display high gamete-killing efficiency
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Dramatically diverse S. pombe wtf meiotic drivers all display high gamete-killing efficiency
María Angélica Bravo Núñez, Ibrahim M. Sabbarini, Michael T. Eickbush, Yue Liang, Jeffrey J. Lange, Aubrey M. Kent, Sarah E. Zanders
bioRxiv 728535; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/728535
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Dramatically diverse S. pombe wtf meiotic drivers all display high gamete-killing efficiency
María Angélica Bravo Núñez, Ibrahim M. Sabbarini, Michael T. Eickbush, Yue Liang, Jeffrey J. Lange, Aubrey M. Kent, Sarah E. Zanders
bioRxiv 728535; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/728535

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Genetics
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3609)
  • Biochemistry (7584)
  • Bioengineering (5533)
  • Bioinformatics (20817)
  • Biophysics (10341)
  • Cancer Biology (7992)
  • Cell Biology (11652)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6616)
  • Ecology (10222)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13639)
  • Genetics (9553)
  • Genomics (12856)
  • Immunology (7928)
  • Microbiology (19561)
  • Molecular Biology (7674)
  • Neuroscience (42165)
  • Paleontology (308)
  • Pathology (1259)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2204)
  • Physiology (3271)
  • Plant Biology (7052)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1294)
  • Synthetic Biology (1953)
  • Systems Biology (5431)
  • Zoology (1119)