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Science 7 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5770, p. 73
DOI: 10.1126/science.1123727
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Sexual Conflict via Maternal-Effect Genes in ZW Species

Paige M. Miller,1* Sergey Gavrilets,2 William R. Rice1

In female heterogamous (ZW) species, sex-linked genes coding for maternal products that are packaged into the egg open a unique arena for genetic conflict that does not occur in male heterogamous (XY) species. Z-linked maternal-effect alleles that help sons and harm daughters are expected to go to fixation, as are W-linked alleles that help daughters and harm sons. This conflict differs from known cases of meiotic drive, because sex-specific ontogeny, physiology, and gene expression greatly simplify the genetic interactions that lead to sexual conflict. Selection on maternal-effect genes may substantially alter the evolution of ZW compared with XY systems.

1 Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
2 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pmiller{at}lifesci.ucsb.edu

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