Recombination shapes the diversification of thewtfmeiotic drivers

Abstract

AbstractMeiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that distort fair segregation. Thewtfgenes are poison-antidote meiotic drivers that are experiencing rapid diversification in fission yeasts. However, gene duplication alone is insufficient to drive the diversification ofwtfgenes, given the poison encoded by a newly duplicatedwtfgene can be detoxified by the antidote encoded by the originalwtfgene. Here, we analyze the evolution ofwtfgenes across 21 strains ofSchizosaccharomyces pombe. Knocking out each of 25wtfgenes inS. pombestrain 972h- separately does not attenuate the yeast growth, indicating that thewtfgenes might be largely neutral to their carriers in asexual life cycle. Interestingly,wtfgenes underwent recurrent and intricate recombination. As proof-of-principle, we generate a novel meiotic driver through artificial recombination betweenwtfdrivers, and its encoded poison cannot be detoxified by the antidotes encoded by their parentalwtfgenes but can be detoxified by its own antidote. Therefore, we propose that recombination can generate new meiotic drivers and thus shape the diversification of thewtfdrivers.