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Peer-reviewedCC BYScience Advances

Rapid protamine evolution suppresses meiotic drive in Drosophila

  • Ching-Ho Chang1,2,3,4
  • Aida Flor A. de la Cruz1,5
  • Hung-Yu Lai2
  • Isabel Mejia Natividad1,5
  • Alex Noyola1
  • Elian Angelo Magsino Abellanosa2,3,4
  • Nicolas D. Lee1,5
  • Harmit S. Malik1,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
  2. 2Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
  3. 3Molecular and Cell Biology, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
  4. 4Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
  5. 5Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
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Abstract

Many animal species replace histones with protamines during spermatogenesis. Although essential for sperm function, protamines evolve rapidly for reasons that remain unknown. Using in vivo gene replacement, we examined the causes and consequences of the rapid evolution of Mst77F, a protamine essential for male fertility in Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster). Replacing Mst77F with divergent orthologs caused DNA compaction defects in X-bearing sperm, resulting in fewer mature X-bearing sperm and male-biased progeny. Reducing D. melanogaster Mst77F dosage caused the same bias, whereas increasing the dosage of Mst77F orthologs rescued it. Engineered sex chromosome fusions revealed that Mst77F protects the D. melanogaster X chromosome from a killer-target meiotic drive system in a dosage- and sequence-dependent manner. Unlike in D. melanogaster, Mst77F was dispensable for fertility in Drosophila yakuba (D. yakuba) but remained important for suppressing sex ratio distortion. Our findings show that relentless pressure to suppress sex chromosome meiotic drive underlies the rapid evolution of protamines.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{chang2026rapid,
  title = {{Rapid protamine evolution suppresses meiotic drive in Drosophila}},
  author = {Ching-Ho Chang and Aida Flor A. de la Cruz and Hung-Yu Lai and Isabel Mejia Natividad and Alex Noyola and Elian Angelo Magsino Abellanosa and Nicolas D. Lee and Harmit S. Malik},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aeb5514},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5514},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Rapid protamine evolution suppresses meiotic drive in Drosophila
AU  - Ching-Ho Chang
AU  - Aida Flor A. de la Cruz
AU  - Hung-Yu Lai
AU  - Isabel Mejia Natividad
AU  - Alex Noyola
AU  - Elian Angelo Magsino Abellanosa
AU  - Nicolas D. Lee
AU  - Harmit S. Malik
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aeb5514
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5514
AB  - Many animal species replace histones with protamines during spermatogenesis. Although essential for sperm function, protamines evolve rapidly for reasons that remain unknown. Using in vivo gene replacement, we examined the causes and consequences of the rapid evolution of Mst77F, a protamine essential for male fertility in Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster). Replacing Mst77F with divergent orthologs caused DNA compaction defects in X-bearing sperm, resulting in fewer mature X-bearing sperm and male-biased progeny. Reducing D. melanogaster Mst77F dosage caused the same bias, whereas increasing the dosage of Mst77F orthologs rescued it. Engineered sex chromosome fusions revealed that Mst77F protects the D. melanogaster X chromosome from a killer-target meiotic drive system in a dosage- and sequence-dependent manner. Unlike in D. melanogaster, Mst77F was dispensable for fertility in Drosophila yakuba (D. yakuba) but remained important for suppressing sex ratio distortion. Our findings show that relentless pressure to suppress sex chromosome meiotic drive underlies the rapid evolution of protamines.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -