Killer meiotic drive elements are selfish genetic entities that manipulate the sexual cycle to promote their own inheritance via destructive means. Two broad classes are sperm killers, typical of animals and plants, and spore killers, which are present in ascomycete fungi. Killer meiotic drive systems operate via toxins that destroy or disable meiotic products bearing the alternative allele. To avoid suicidal autotargeting, cells that bear these selfish elements must either lack the toxin target, or express an antidote. Historically, these systems were presumed to require large nonrecombining haplotypes to link multiple functional interacting loci. However, recent advances on fungal spore killers reveal that numerous systems are enacted by single genes, and similar molecular genetic studies in Drosophila pinpoint individual loci that distort gamete sex. Notably, many meiotic drivers duplicate readily, forming gene families that can have complex interactions within and between species, and providing substrates for their rapid functional diversification. Here, we summarize the known families of meiotic drivers in fungi and fruit flies, and highlight shared principles about their evolution and proliferation that promote the spread of these noxious genes.

减数分裂杀手驱动元件是自私的遗传实体，它们操纵性周期，通过破坏性手段促进自身的遗传。两大类是精子杀手（动物和植物中常见）和孢子杀手（存在于子囊菌中）。杀手减数分裂驱动系统通过毒素起作用，破坏或禁用带有替代等位基因的减数分裂产物。为了避免自杀性自动靶向，携带这些自私元素的细胞必须要么缺乏毒素靶标，要么表达解毒剂。从历史上看，这些系统被认为需要大型非重组单倍型来连接多个功能相互作用位点。然而，真菌孢子杀手的最新进展表明，许多系统是由单个基因制定的，果蝇中类似的分子遗传学研究精确定位了扭曲配子性别的个体基因座。值得注意的是，许多减数分裂驱动因素很容易复制，形成在物种内部和物种之间具有复杂相互作用的基因家族，并为其快速功能多样化提供底物。在这里，我们总结了真菌和果蝇中已知的减数分裂驱动因子家族，并强调了它们的进化和增殖的共同原则，这些原则促进了这些有害基因的传播。