Fig. 1.

Taxonomic diversity of meiosis in eukaryotes. Animals and plants undergo two types of meiosis: asymmetric (female) meiosis in which three of four meiotic products are eliminated (shaded), and male meiosis in which all four meiotic products have an equal likelihood of success. In contrast, some lineages (like Fungi) only undergo male meiosis, while other lineages like ciliated protozoans (including Tetrahymena) only undergo female meiosis. Each of these configurations is expected to differ in terms of their susceptibility to "centromere-drive" and its deleterious consequences (Henikoff et al. 2001; Malik 2005; Malik and Bayes 2006; Malik and Henikoff 2009)