Selfish genetic elements and male fertility
Verspoor, RL; Price, TAR; Wedell, N
Date: 19 October 2020
Article
Journal
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
Royal Society
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Selfish Genetic Elements (SGEs) are diverse and near ubiquitous in Eukaryotes and can be potent
drivers of evolution. Here we discuss SGEs that specifically act on sperm to gain a transmission
advantage to the next generation. The diverse SGEs that affect sperm often impose costs on carrier
males, including damaging ejaculates, ...
Selfish Genetic Elements (SGEs) are diverse and near ubiquitous in Eukaryotes and can be potent
drivers of evolution. Here we discuss SGEs that specifically act on sperm to gain a transmission
advantage to the next generation. The diverse SGEs that affect sperm often impose costs on carrier
males, including damaging ejaculates, skewing offspring sex-ratios and in particular reducing sperm
competitive success of SGE carrying males. How males and females tolerate and mitigate against these
costs is a dynamic and expanding area of research. The intense intra-genomic conflict that these selfish
elements generate could also have implications for male fertility and spermatogenesis more widely.
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