Reed J N, Hurst L D
Department of Genetics, Cambridge, U.K.
J Theor Biol. 1996 Feb 21;178(4):355-68. doi: 10.1006/jtbi.1996.0031.
Many ciliates undergo a peculiar form of meiosis in which four haploid nuclei are produced, three are digested, and the single remaining nucleus undergoes mitosis. It is paradoxical that such a meiotic process occurs, since one could imagine several other less costly ways of producing two nuclei. Here we investigate a possible resolution of this paradox. It is shown that the spread of a selfish gene that kills the mate not containing it, provides the conditions for the spread of a costly modifier of the form of meiosis. We investigate the conditions under which the modifier can fixate.
