Description

In this article, Carrie Arnold explores the concept of supergenes, which are stretches of DNA that lock several genes together into a single inheritable unit. Supergenes were once considered an evolutionary oddity, but recent work has shown that they are far more common in animals and plants than researchers previously believed. Traits such as mimicry in butterflies, adaptation to diverse environments in wild sunflowers, and social organization in fire ant species might be driven by these groups of genes that function like a single gene. However, supergenes can also accumulate harmful mutations rapidly, which can lead to degenerative effects that undermine their original benefits.