The wtf4 meiotic driver utilizes controlled protein aggregation to generate selective cell death.

ABSTRACT: Meiotic drivers are parasitic loci that force their own transmission into greater than half of the offspring of a heterozygote. Many drivers have been identified, but their molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. The wtf4 gene is a meiotic driver in Schizosaccharomyces pombe that uses a poison-antidote mechanism to selectively kill meiotic products (spores) that do not inherit wtf4. Here, we show that the Wtf4 proteins can function outside of gametogenesis and in a distantly related species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Wtf4^poison protein forms dispersed, toxic aggregates. The Wtf4^antidote can co-assemble with the Wtf4^poison and promote its trafficking to vacuoles. We show that neutralization of the Wtf4^poison requi

SUBMITTER: Nuckolls NL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7591262 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature