Work

Selfish genetic elements and male fertility

Year: 2020

Type: review

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, 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. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of sperm competition'.

Source: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0067

Authors: Rudi L. Verspoor, Tom A. R. Price, Nina Wedell

Institutions: University of Liverpool, University of Exeter

Language: English

Topic: Chromosomal and Genetic Variations

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Natural Environment Research Council

Awards: NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility - Liverpool, The genetic basis of reproductive isolation through intragenomic conflict, G8555255066