John P. DidionAndrew P. MorganLiran YadgaryTimothy A. BellRachel C. McMullanLydia Ortiz De SolorzanoJanice Britton-DavidianCarol J. BultKarl J. CampbellRiccardo CastigliaYung Hao ChingAmanda J. ChuncoJames J. CrowleyElissa J. CheslerDaniel W. FörsterJohn E. FrenchSofia I. GabrielDaniel M. GattiTheodore GarlandEva B. Giagia-AthanasopoulouMabel D. GiménezSofia A. GrizeIslam GündüzAndrew HolmesHeidi C. HauffeJeremy S. HermanJames M. HoltKunjie HuaWesley J. JolleyAnna K. LindholmMaría J. López-FusterGeorge MitsainasMaria Da Luz MathiasLeonard McMillanMaria Da Graça Morgado RamalhinhoBarbara RehermannStephan P. RosshartJeremy B. SearleMeng Shin ShiaoEmanuela SolanoKaren L. SvensonPatricia Thomas-LaemontDavid W. ThreadgillJacint VenturaGeorge M. WeinstockDaniel PompGary A. ChurchillFernando Pardo Manuel De VillenaThe University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversité de MontpellierJackson LaboratoryIsland ConservationUniversity of QueenslandUniversità degli Studi di Roma La SapienzaTzu Chi UniversityElon UniversityLeibniz-Institut fur Zoo- und WildtierforschungNational Institute of Environmental Health SciencesFaculdade de Ciências, Universidade de LisboaUniversity of California, RiversidePanepistimion PatronInstituto de Biologia SubtropicalUniversity of ZurichOndokuz Mayis University Faculty of Science and ArtsNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholismIstituto Agrario San Michele all'AdigeNational Museums of ScotlandIsland ConservationUniversitat de BarcelonaNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney DiseasesCornell UniversityMahidol UniversityTexas A and M UniversityUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaJackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine2018-12-112019-03-142018-12-112019-03-142016-06-02Molecular Biology and Evolution. Vol.33, No.6 (2016), 1381-139515371719073740382-s2.0-84973402664https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/43365© 2016 The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. A selective sweep is the result of strong positive selection driving newly occurring or standing genetic variants to fixation, and can dramatically alter the pattern and distribution of allelic diversity in a population. Population-level sequencing data have enabled discoveries of selective sweeps associated with genes involved in recent adaptations in many species. In contrast, much debate but little evidence addresses whether "selfish" genes are capable of fixation - thereby leaving signatures identical to classical selective sweeps - despite being neutral or deleterious to organismal fitness. We previously described R2d2, a large copy-number variant that causes nonrandom segregation of mouse Chromosome 2 in females due to meiotic drive. Here we show population-genetic data consistent with a selfish sweep driven by alleles of R2d2 with high copy number (R2d2HC) in natural populations. We replicate this finding in multiple closed breeding populations from six outbred backgrounds segregating for R2d2 alleles. We find that R2d2HC rapidly increases in frequency, and in most cases becomes fixed in significantly fewer generations than can be explained by genetic drift. R2d2HC is also associated with significantly reduced litter sizes in heterozygous mothers, making it a true selfish allele. Our data provide direct evidence of populations actively undergoing selfish sweeps, and demonstrate that meiotic drive can rapidly alter the genomic landscape in favor of mutations with neutral or even negative effects on overall Darwinian fitness. Further study will reveal the incidence of selfish sweeps, and will elucidate the relative contributions of selfish genes, adaptation and genetic drift to evolution.Mahidol UniversityAgricultural and Biological SciencesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1093/molbev/msw036