Homoploid Hybrid Species (homoploid + hybrid_species)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


THE RATE OF GENOME STABILIZATION IN HOMOPLOID HYBRID SPECIES

EVOLUTION, Issue 2 2008
C. Alex Buerkle
Homoploid hybrid speciation has been recognized for its potential rapid completion, an idea that has received support from experimental and modeling studies. Following initial hybridization, the genomes of parental species recombine and junctions between chromosomal blocks of different parental origin leave a record of recombination and the time period before homogenization of the derived genome. We use detailed genetic maps of three hybrid species of sunflowers and models to estimate the time required for the stabilization of the new hybrid genome. In contrast to previous estimates of 60 or fewer generations, we find that the genomes of three hybrid sunflower species were not stabilized for hundreds of generations. These results are reconciled with previous research by recognizing that the stabilization of a hybrid species' genome is not synonymous with hybrid speciation. Segregating factors that contribute to initial ecological or intrinsic genetic isolation may become stabilized quickly. The remainder of the genome likely becomes stabilized over a longer time interval, with recombination and drift dictating the contributions of the parental genomes. Our modeling of genome stabilization provides an upper bound for the time interval for reproductive isolation to be established and confirms the rapid nature of homoploid hybrid speciation. [source]


A NOVEL PREFERENCE FOR AN INVASIVE PLANT AS A MECHANISM FOR ANIMAL HYBRID SPECIATION

EVOLUTION, Issue 2 2007
Dietmar Schwarz
Homoploid hybrid speciation,speciation via hybridization without a change in chromosome number,is rarely documented and poorly understood in animals. In particular, the mechanisms by which animal homoploid hybrid species become ecologically and reproductively isolated from their parents are hypothetical and remain largely untested by experiments. For the many host-specific parasites that mate on their host, choosing the right host is the most important ecological and reproductive barrier between these species. One example of a host-specific parasite is the Lonicera fly, a population of tephritid fruit flies that evolved within the last 250 years likely by hybridization between two native Rhagoletis species following a host shift to invasive honeysuckle. We studied the host preference of the Lonicera fly and its putative parent species in laboratory experiments. The Lonicera fly prefers its new host, introduced honeysuckle, over the hosts of both parental species, demonstrating the rapid acquisition of preference for a new host as a means of behavioral isolation from the parent species. The parent taxa discriminate against each other's native hosts, but both accept honeysuckle fruit, leaving the potential for asymmetric gene flow from the parent species. Importantly, this pattern allows us to formulate hypotheses about the initial formation of the Lonicera fly. As mating partners from the two parent taxa are more likely to meet on invasive honeysuckle than on their respective native hosts, independent acceptance of honeysuckle by both parents likely preceded hybridization. We propose that invasive honeysuckle served as a catalyst for the local breakdown of reproductive isolation between the native parent species, a novel consequence of the introduction of an exotic weed. We describe behavioral mechanisms that explain the initial hybridization and subsequent reproductive isolation of the hybrid Lonicera fly. These results provide experimental support for a combination of host shift and hybridization as a model for hybrid speciation in parasitic animals. [source]


Does hybridization between divergent progenitors drive whole-genome duplication?

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 16 2009
RICHARD J. A. BUGGS
Abstract Hybridization and whole-genome duplication are both potential mechanisms of rapid speciation which sometimes act in concert. Recent surveys, showing that homoploid hybrid species tend to be derived from parents that are less evolutionarily divergent than parents of polyploid hybrid species (allopolyploids), have been interpreted as supporting a hypothesis that high divergence between hybridizing species drives whole-genome duplication. Here, we argue that such conclusions stem from problems in sampling (especially the omission of autopolyploids) and null model selection, and underestimate the importance of selection. The data simply demonstrate that hybridization between divergent parents has a higher probability of successfully producing a species if followed by polyploidization. [source]


Natural selection for salt tolerance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in wild sunflower hybrids: Implications for the origin of Helianthus paradoxus, a diploid hybrid species

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2003
C. Lexer
Abstract For a new diploid or homoploid hybrid species to become established, it must diverge ecologically from parental genotypes. Otherwise the hybrid neospecies will be overcome by gene flow or competition. We initiated a series of experiments designed to understand how the homoploid hybrid species, Helianthus paradoxus, was able to colonize salt marsh habitats, when both of its parental species (H. annuus×H. petiolaris) are salt sensitive. Here, we report on the results of a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of mineral ion uptake traits and survivorship in 172 BC2 hybrids between H. annuus and H. petiolaris that were planted in H. paradoxus salt marsh habitat in New Mexico. A total of 14 QTLs were detected for mineral ion uptake traits and three for survivorship. Several mineral ion QTLs mapped to the same position as the survivorship QTLs, confirming previous studies, which indicated that salt tolerance in Helianthus is achieved through increased Ca uptake, coupled with greater exclusion of Na and related mineral ions. Of greater general significance was the observation that QTLs with effects in opposing directions were found for survivorship and for all mineral ion uptake traits with more than one detected QTL. This genetic architecture provides an ideal substrate for rapid ecological divergence in hybrid neospecies and offers a simple explanation for the colonization of salt marsh habitats by H. paradoxus. Finally, selection coefficients of +0.126, ,0.084 and ,0.094 for the three survivorship QTLs, respectively, are sufficiently large to account for establishment of new, homoploid hybrid species. [source]