PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ridges, Jackson T.
AU  - Bladen, Jackson
AU  - King, Thomas D.
AU  - Brown, Nora C.
AU  - Large, Christopher R. L.
AU  - Cooper, Jacob C.
AU  - Jones, Amanda J.
AU  - Loppin, Benjamin
AU  - Dubruille, Raphaëlle
AU  - Phadnis, Nitin
TI  - <em>Overdrive</em> is essential for targeted sperm elimination by <em>Segregation Distorter</em>
AID  - 10.1101/2024.06.04.597441
DP  - 2024 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2024.06.04.597441
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2024/06/06/2024.06.04.597441.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2024/06/06/2024.06.04.597441.full
AB  - Intra-genomic conflict driven by selfish chromosomes is a powerful force that shapes the evolution of genomes and species. In the male germline, many selfish chromosomes bias transmission in their own favor by eliminating spermatids bearing the competing homologous chromosomes. However, the mechanisms of targeted gamete elimination remain mysterious. Here, we show that Overdrive (Ovd), a gene required for both segregation distortion and male sterility in Drosophila pseudoobscura hybrids, is broadly conserved in Dipteran insects but dispensable for viability and fertility. In D. melanogaster, Ovd is required for targeted Responder spermatid elimination after the histone-to-protamine transition in the classical Segregation Distorter system. We propose that Ovd functions as a general spermatid quality checkpoint that is hijacked by independent selfish chromosomes to eliminate competing gametes.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.