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IMAGE: Supergenes govern colony social form in Solenopsis invicta (top left; SB/Sb alleles), heterostyly in Primula veris (top right; S/s alleles), and polymorphic female-limited mimicry in Papilio polytes (bottom right; H/h...
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Credit: Image courtesy of Tanja Slotte. Photo Credits: Alex Wild (Solenopsis), Tanja Slotte (Primula), and Krushnamegh Kunte (Papilio).
While the term "supergene" may bring to mind the genetic hocus-pocus of Peter Parker's transformation into Spiderman, supergenes are actually fairly common phenomena in the realm of biology. A supergene refers to a genomic region containing multiple genes or genetic elements that are tightly linked, allowing genetic variants across the region to be co-inherited. Supergenes may arise when there is a clear benefit to inheriting specific combinations of biological traits together. Perhaps the most well-known examples of supergenes are sex chromosomes, which allow traits that are beneficial to the reproductive success of one sex to be co-inherited. In humans, this explains the prevalence of male-specific genes on the Y chromosome. While the concept of supergenes arose nearly a century ago, until recently, the study of their origin, evolution, and eventual fate was largely theoretical. Now, however, thanks to advances in genomic sequencing and computational biology, scientists can put those theories to the test with real-world data. In a recent review published in