Teosinte Pollen Drive guides maize diversification and domestication by RNAi.

ABSTRACT: Selfish genetic elements contribute to hybrid incompatibility and bias or 'drive' their own transmission^1,2. Chromosomal drive typically functions in asymmetric female meiosis, whereas gene drive is normally post-meiotic and typically found in males. Here, using single-molecule and single-pollen genome sequencing, we describe Teosinte Pollen Drive, an instance of gene drive in hybrids between maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and teosinte mexicana (Z. mays ssp. mexicana) that depends on RNA interference (RNAi). 22-nucleotide small RNAs from a non-coding RNA hairpin in mexicana depend on Dicer-like 2 (Dcl2) and target Teosinte Drive Responder 1 (Tdr1), which encodes a lipase required for pollen viability. Dcl2, Tdr1 and the hairpin are in tight pseudolinkage on chromosome 5, but only wh

SUBMITTER: Berube B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11390486 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature