Systematic Biology, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.
Institut de Biochimie et de Génétique Cellulaire, UMR 5095 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, 33077, Bordeaux CEDEX, France.
Mycologia. 2022 Jan-Feb;114(1):1-23. doi: 10.1080/00275514.2021.1994815. Epub 2022 Feb 9.
During meiosis, both alleles of any given gene should have equal chances of being inherited by the progeny. There are a number of reasons why, however, this is not the case, with one of the most intriguing instances presenting itself as the phenomenon of meiotic drive. Genes that are capable of driving can manipulate the ratio of alleles among viable meiotic products so that they are inherited in more than half of them. In many cases, this effect is achieved by direct antagonistic interactions, where the driving allele inhibits or otherwise eliminates the alternative allele. In ascomycete fungi, meiotic products are packaged directly into ascospores; thus, the effect of meiotic drive has been given the nefarious moniker, "spore killing." In recent years, many of the known spore killers have been elevated from mysterious phenotypes to well-described systems at genetic, genomic, and molecular levels. In this review, we describe the known diversity of spore killers and synthesize the varied pieces of data from each system into broader trends regarding genome architecture, mechanisms of resistance, the role of transposable elements, their effect on population dynamics, speciation and gene flow, and finally how they may be developed as synthetic drivers. We propose that spore killing is common, but that it is under-observed because of a lack of studies on natural populations. We encourage researchers to seek new spore killers to build on the knowledge that these remarkable genetic elements can teach us about meiotic drive, genomic conflict, and evolution more broadly.
在减数分裂过程中，任何给定基因的两个等位基因都应该有均等的机会遗传给后代。然而，有许多原因导致这种情况并非如此，其中最引人注目的例子之一是减数分裂驱动现象。能够驱动的基因可以操纵可育减数分裂产物中的等位基因比例，使得它们在超过一半的产物中遗传。在许多情况下，这种效应是通过直接拮抗相互作用实现的，其中驱动等位基因抑制或消除替代等位基因。在子囊菌真菌中，减数分裂产物直接包装成子囊孢子；因此，减数分裂驱动的效应被赋予了一个恶名，“孢子杀伤”。近年来，许多已知的孢子杀手已经从神秘的表型提升到遗传、基因组和分子水平上的描述良好的系统。在这篇综述中，我们描述了已知的孢子杀手多样性，并将每个系统的各种数据综合成关于基因组结构、抗性机制、转座元件作用、它们对种群动态、物种形成和基因流的影响以及最终它们如何被开发为合成驱动的更广泛的趋势。我们提出，孢子杀伤很常见，但由于缺乏对自然种群的研究，这种现象被低估了。我们鼓励研究人员寻找新的孢子杀手，以建立在这些非凡遗传元素可以教导我们关于减数分裂驱动、基因组冲突和更广泛进化的知识的基础上。
