This might be the same sort of observation often termed "meiotic drive" in the genetics literature.  (And I prefer not to use terminology that attributes motives to genes!)  Yes, this sort of thing has been observed many times and at least sometimes seems to be something more than a statistical oddity.  Whether it can be invoked as the "cause" of any apparently persistent segment that we see in genetic genealogy is problematic, since we will rarely have a large enough sample to established statistical significance. John McCoy(RealMac@aol.com) In a message dated 11/21/2018 3:23:23 PM Pacific Standard Time, genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com writes: I just listened to the Economist Babbage podcast in which they discussed ways of dealing with malaria through mosquito genetics. One idea is to take what has been already found in nature -- what is called a "selfish gene" -- and have it spread across the malaria-bearing mosquito population (which is actually 3 different species of mosquito).A selfish gene is one that somehow aids and abets its own propagation to the next generation. These have apparently been recognized as a reality in nature for some time.We have had discussions on this list about autosomal DNA that has persisted over multiple generations in excess of what the assumption of 50-50 average recombination would lead us to expect -- but which we have found in the reality of the descendants of some ancestor much further back than would be expected by so many descendants sharing the DNA. It is not at all common, but it is there in some cases.I do not know enough about genetics to say whether the "selfish gene" observed in nature is connected to what we are seeing in some cases in the atDNA of descendants of some ancestors. _______________________________________________Email preferences: http://bit.ly/rootswebprefUnsubscribe https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/genealogy-dna@rootsweb.comPrivacy Statement: https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY Terms and Conditions: https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9Rootsweb Blog: http://rootsweb.blogRootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community