The researchers discovered the actions of multiple independent meiotic
drivers in fission yeasts in an earlier study, reported in 2014 in eLife, but didn't know which genes were responsible, or how they destroyed gametes that didn't inherit the genes.
Behaviour similar to that of a PS has also been
observed in fission yeast (S. pombe) and the roundworm (C. elegans), albeit with no molecular explanation.
Here,
in fission yeast the actin ring was found to be required to generate late - mitotic microtubular structures located at the division plane, and these in turn maintained the medial position of the actin ring.
If either of the same two mutant DDX3X proteins were substituted for the most similar protein
in fission yeast, the yeast died.
In fission yeast, telomeres are one of the locations where heterochromatin is found, another being the centromere — the dense knob - like structure at the center of a chromosome.