Son-killer: a third extrachromosomal factor affecting the sex ratio in the parasitoid wasp, Nasonia (=Mormoniella) vitripennis.
An extrachromosomal factor, termed son-killer (sk), affects the sex ratio in a parasitoid wasp, Nasonia (=Mormoniella) vitripennis. The factor is maternally transmitted and alters the secondary sex ratio of an infected female through mortality of approximately 80% of the male embryos. No effect on the primary (zygotic) sex ratio is observed. Ninety-five percent of the daughters of an infected female inherit son-killer. The factor can also be transmitted contagiously when the progeny of infected and uninfected females develop simultaneously on a single host. In newly infected strains, the sex ratio effects are equivalent to those in the original.
D000818:Animals; D005111:Extrachromosomal Inheritance; D005260:Female; D006927:Hymenoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D010271:Parasites / Q000235:genetics; D012744:Sex Ratio; D014863:Wasps / Q000235:genetics*