Sex, success, and resisting extinction: the genetic basis and fitness effects of meiotic drive in two species of the Malaysian stalk-eyed fly.

在整个基因组中，每个等位基因在减数分裂过程中分离并遗传给下一代的概率是相等的。然而，自私的遗传因素可以通过以牺牲基因组的其他部分为代价来增强其传播而传播。这些问题如何以及为什么会扩散，仍然是一个根本性的问题。性别连锁减数分裂驱动基因通常存在于染色体倒位中以保持高连锁（低重组区域），但也因此积累了大量有害负荷。基因组内的冲突存在于驱动基因和其他基因组之间，前者降低了适应性，并对各种生命史特征（如生育能力、生存能力）施加了代价，后者试图进化出假定的适应性来对抗这些代价。这个博士项目建立在10年的理论和实验工作的基础上，研究了马来西亚柄眼蝇（Teleopsis dalmanni）的x连锁减数分裂驱动系统。这种昆虫的特点是极端的性选择和夸张的第二性装饰（眼展），这是由于进化的雌性配偶偏爱眼展最宽的雄性。因此，这项工作是独一无二的，因为它将性选择和减数分裂驱动结合在一起，并将成为性别比例（SR）驱动如何影响野生种群繁殖行为的第一个证据。

Across the genome, each allele has an equal probability of segregating during meiosis and being passed onto the next generation. However, selfish genetic elements can arise that spread by enhancing their transmission at a cost to the rest of the genome. How and why these spread remains a fundamental question. Sex-linked meiotic drive genes typically reside within chromosomal inversions to maintain high linkage (an area of low recombination), but as such, accumulate heavy deleterious load. Intragenomic conflict exists between the drive gene which reduces the fitness and imposes costs to various life history traits (e.g: fertility, viability), and the rest of the genome, which attempts to evolve putative adaptations against these costs. This PhD project builds upon a decade of theoretical and experimental work on the X-linked meiotic drive system in the Malaysian stalk-eyed fly, Teleopsis dalmanni. This insect is characterised by extreme sexual selection and exaggerated secondary-sexual ornaments (eyespan) owing to evolved female mate preference for males with the widest eyespan. This work is therefore unique as it brings together both sexual selection and meiotic drive, and will be the first evidence of how sex ratio (SR) drive influences reproductive behaviour in wild populations.