The fate of autosomal modifiers of the sex-ratio trait in drosophila and other sex-linked meiotic drive systems

Abstract

A model is proposed to analyze the behavior of autosomal suppressor modifiers of "Sex-Ratio" meiotic drive in drosophila. These modifiers, if neutral in fitness, are expected to increase because they tend to be associated with the rare sex (males). However, selection operating on the sex-linked drive locus will sometimes act against autosomal modifiers as well because the two loci are always in gametic phase disequilibrium. Conditions under which modifiers will not increase are presented in terms of the relative fitness of the sex-linked drive locus. To prevent the increase of modifiers, the fitness of Sex-Ratio males relative to Standard males has to be no greater than 0.3 and there has to be overdominance in females. This model integrates findings from the search for modifiers and results from the measurement of fitness.