Divergent <i>C. elegans</i> toxin alleles are suppressed by distinct mechanisms

Toxin-antidote elements (TAs) are selfish DNA sequences that bias their transmission to the next generation. TAs typically consist of two linked genes: a toxin and an antidote. The toxin kills progeny that do not inherit the TA, while the antidote counteracts the toxin in progeny that inherit the TA. We previously discovered two TAs in Caenorhabditis elegans that follow the canonical TA model of…