Comparing Meiotic Drive in Teleopsis whitei to Teleopsis dalmanni

Authors: Ariana Cookinham, Josephine Reinhardt

SUNY Campus: SUNY Geneseo

Presentation Type: Poster

Location: Old Union Hall

Presentation #: 26

Timeslot: Session A 9:00-10:00 AM

Abstract: Teleopsis whitei is a species of stalk-eyed fly that exhibits meiotic drive, which causes a gene to be inherited more than the expected 50% of the time. In T. whitei, sex ratio (SR) males pass down the X chromosome at least 90% of the time, leading to nearly all female offspring. In a similar species, Teleopsis dalmanni, genomic evidence for meiotic drive is only present on the X chromosome. However, prior studies suggest that the mechanism for drive in T. whitei is not confined to the X chromosome. To look for places in the genome that cause drive, 10 standard (ST) males and 10 SR males were sequenced with whole genome sequencing. A reference genome for T. whitei does not exist, so reads were mapped to the T. dalmanni reference genome. GATK was used to identify genetic variants from pooled data and assign genotypes to individuals. PCA was performed on the individual genotypes but there was no evidence of genetic clustering by SR status on any chromosome. Overlapping phylogenetic trees containing 3 million base pairs each were also generated with the pooled data using the program iqtree2. A monophyletic group for drive was found in a singular tree on the X chromosome. Compared to the autosomes, the X chromosome showed more genetic differentiation between SR and ST chromosomes when controlled for population level differentiation. This is what is seen in T. dalmanni, which suggests that drive in T. whitei may be more similar to T. dalmanni than previously thought.