X-linked meiotic drive boosts population size and persistence

Abstract

ABSTRACTX-linked meiotic drivers cause X-bearing sperm to be produced in excess by male carriers, leading to female-biased sex ratios. Selection for these selfish sex chromosomes can lead to completely female populations, which cannot produce offspring and go extinct. However, at the population level, moderately female-biased sex ratios are optimal because relatively few males are required to fertilise all the females. We develop eco-evolutionary models for sex-linked meiotic drive alleles to investigate their full range of demographic effects. We find general conditions for the spread and fixation of X-drivers, accounting for transmission bias and other factors associated with the spread of X-drivers such as sperm competition and polyandry. Our results suggest driving X-alleles that do not reach fixation (or do not bias segregation excessively) will boost population sizes and persistence times by increasing population productivity, demonstrating the potential for selfish genetic elements to move sex ratios closer to the population-level optimum. We suggest that researchers should look beyond extinction risk and consider the potential for ecologically beneficial side effects of selfish genetic elements, especially in light of proposals to use meiotic drive for biological control.