Incomplete reproductive isolation betweenRhododendrontaxa enables hybrid formation and persistence

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li‐Jun Yan ◽  
Kevin S. Burgess ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
Zhi‐Bin Tao ◽  
De‐Zhu Li ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody K. Porter ◽  
John L. Confer ◽  
Kyle R. Aldinger ◽  
Ronald A. Canterbury ◽  
Jeffrey L. Larkin ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alwyn Clark Go

Speciation occurs when reproductive barriers prevent the exchange of genetic information between individuals. A common form of reproductive barrier between species capable of interbreeding is hybrid sterility. Genomic incompatibilities between the divergent genomes of different species contribute to a reduction in hybrid fitness. These incompatibilities continue to accumulate after speciation, therefore, young divergent taxa with incomplete reproductive isolation are important in understating the genetics leading to speciation. Here, I use two Drosophila subspecies pairs. The first is D. willistoni consisting of D. w. willistoni and D. w. winge. The second subspecies pair is D. pseudoobscura, which is composed of D. p. pseudoobscura and D. p. bogotana. Both subspecies pairs are at the early stages of speciation and show incomplete reproductive isolation through unidirectional hybrid male sterility. In this thesis, I performed an exploratory survey of genome-wide expression analysis using RNA-sequencing on D. willistoni and determined the extent of regulatory divergence between the subspecies using allele-specific expression analysis. I found that misexpressed genes showed a degree of tissue specificity and that the sterile male hybrids had a higher proportion of misexpressed genes in the testes relative to the fertile hybrids. The analysis of regulatory divergence between this subspecies pair found a large (66-70%) proportion of genes with conserved regulatory elements. Of the genes showing evidence or regulatory divergence between subspecies, cis-regulatory divergence was more common than other types. In the D. pseudoobscura subspecies pair, I compared sequence and expression divergence and found no support for directional selection driving gene misexpression in their hybrids. Allele-specific expression analysis revealed that compensatory cis-trans mutations partly explained gene misexpression in the hybrids. The remaining hybrid misexpression occurs due to interacting gene networks or possible co-option of cis-regulatory elements by divergent transacting factors. Overall, the results of this thesis highlight the role of regulatory interactions in a hybrid genome and how these interactions could lead to hybrid breakdown by disrupting gene interaction networks.


2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Skarzynski

AbstractLaboratory hybridisation studies were performed of the springtail species Ceratophysella denticulata, C. engadinensis, C. stercoraria, C. mosquensis, C. impedita and Schaefferia willemi. The studies revealed that the species under consideration are reproductively isolated to different degrees. Rare, unilateral, introgressive hybridisation was detected exclusively between C. denticulata and C. engadinensis. Despite incomplete reproductive isolation these problematic species were recognised as “good” and closely related. The remaining species, including the problematic C. stercoraria, appeared to be completely reproductively isolated and were recognised as “good” and distantly related.


2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1655) ◽  
pp. 219-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N Balakrishnan ◽  
Kristina M Sefc ◽  
Michael D Sorenson

Behavioural and molecular studies suggest that brood parasitic indigobirds ( Vidua spp.) rapidly diversified through a process of speciation by host shift. However, behavioural imprinting on host song, the key mechanism promoting speciation in this system, may also lead to hybridization and gene flow among established indigobird species when and if female indigobirds parasitize hosts already associated with other indigobird species. It is therefore not clear to what extent the low level of genetic differentiation among indigobird species is due to recent common ancestry versus ongoing gene flow. We tested for reproductive isolation among three indigobird species in Cameroon, one of which comprises two morphologically indistinguishable host races. Mimicry of host songs corresponded with plumage colour in 184 male indigobirds, suggesting that females rarely parasitize the host of another indigobird species. Paternity analyses, however, suggest that imperfect specificity in host and/or mate choice allows for continuing gene flow between recently formed host races of the Cameroon Indigobird Vidua camerunensis ; while 63 pairs of close relatives were associated with the same host, two strongly supported father–son pairs included males mimicking the songs of the two different hosts of V. camerunensis . Thus, complete reproductive isolation is not necessarily an automatic consequence of host shifts, a result that suggests an important role for natural and/or sexual selection in indigobird speciation.


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