This Evolution 101 post is by MSU grad student Alex Lalejini
The above comic strip might lead one to believe that the phrase ‘selfish genes’ describes genes that make individuals act selfishly; however, this is not at all what is meant by the phrase ‘selfish genes’. This post gives a brief introduction to selfish genes, which is a story rich in greed, replication, and conflict. Aside from the greed, replication, and conflict, the effects and implications of selfish genes are far-reaching, which makes them incredibly interesting.
The Gene Perspective
We are accustomed to thinking about evolution from the perspective of whole organisms: Individual organisms in a population have varying observable characteristics, or phenotypes, as a result of inherited genetic variations. Some variations increase an individual’s ability to compete for resources and reproduce, and through natural selection over many generations, the beneficial genetic variations are propagated through the population of organisms.
However, it is interesting to consider evolution from a more genecentered perspective. Richard Dawkins has described living organisms as “throwaway survival machines for genes” with this genecentered perspective in mind. While individual organisms inevitably die, the information coded by their genes has the chance to continue from generation to generation. Genes with phenotypic effects beneficial to a host organism’s chance of survival and reproduction have an improved chance to persist over many generations as compared to genes with less beneficial or harmful phenotypic effects. This is not always the case; some genetic elements achieve persistence and propagation in a population without any consideration for their host organism.
Selfishness
Genetic elements may exploit alternative methods of persistence and propagation without contributing to their host organism’s fitness. As such, these genetic elements are not necessarily invested in the host organism’s fitness, and as a result, their alternative methods of propagation often negatively affect the host organism’s fitness. These genes are selfish – their expression advances their own interests at the expense of other genes and the host organism as a whole. There are a multitude of types of gene selfishness. Here I provide an overview of one: transposable elements.
From Genes in Conflict by Burt and Trivers (2009), transposable elements “accumulate by copying themselves into new locations of the genome”; they are often referred to as selfish DNA parasites. Transposable elements are analogous to a selfreplicating computer virus that copies itself many times when it is put on a computer in order to avoid removal. As we are aware, this type of computer virus could have a significant negative effect on the performance of a computer. In a similar manner, transposable elements can have a strongly negative effect on the host organism’s fitness. This form of selfish expression is surprisingly widespread – at least 45% of the human genome is derived from transposable elements (Lander et al.,2001)!
On a bit of a historical note, we must thank Barbara McClintock and her work with the familiar Thanksgiving holiday staple, multicolored corn, for the discovery of transposable elements. As McClintock discovered, transposable elements are responsible for the vivid mosaics of color seen in Indian Corn. For those with further interest in transposable elements, her work is a great place to start.
Conflict
We have now seen that the expression of selfish genes can increase their own fitness at the cost of other genes and the host organism. As a result, selfish genes are often at odds with the ‘unselfish’ genes that rely on the reproductive success of the host organism in order to increase in frequency. This tension caused by opposing interests facilitates a form of gene conflict. If there is a selfish gene negatively affecting organismal fitness present in a population, there is selection pressure for other genes that suppress the selfish genetic element’s expression. As a result, we see genes with contradictory or conflicting effects evolve.
Evolutionary Implications
While the immediate effects of selfish genetic elements on host organisms are often negative, there is some evidence to suggest that selfish genetic elements and the resulting gene conflict helps to drive evolutionary change and innovation (Werren, 2001). As some genetic elements evolve to get ahead at the expense of the rest of the organism, other genetic elements arise to minimize the negative effects of selfish genes. In the case of transposable elements, the rest of the genome is sometimes able to recruit a transposable element for new cellular functions (Werren, 2001). In this way, selfish genetic elements can be instrumental in pushing organisms toward increasing genetic robustness. Selfish genetic elements, however, do not always bestow longterm positive effects on organisms; they can also lead to species extinction, which perhaps ironically, also leads to the selfish genetic element’s extinction.
References
Burt, A. & Trivers, R. (2009). Genes in conflict: the biology of selfish genetic elements. Harvard University Press.
Lander, E. S., Linton, L. M., Birren, B., Nusbaum, C., Zody, M. C., Baldwin, J., … & Grafham, D. (2001). Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome.Nature,409(6822), 860921.
Werren, J. H. (2011). Selfish genetic elements, genetic conflict, and evolutionary innovation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,108(Supplement 2), 1086310870.
