Genome rearrangements are associated with eukaryotic evolutionary processes ranging from tumorigenesis to speciation. Rearrangements are especially common following interspecific hybridization, and some of these could be expected to have strong selective value. To test this expectation we created de novo interspecific yeast hybrids between two diverged but largely syntenic Saccharomyces species...

Hybrid male sterility is a common barrier to gene flow between species. Previous studies have posited a link between misregulation of spermatogenesis genes in interspecies hybrids and sterility. However, in the absence of fully fertile control hybrids, it is impossible to differentiate between misregulation associated with sterility vs. fast male gene regulatory evolution. Here, we differentiat...

It has been shown previously that abnormal placental growth, i.e., hyper- and hypoplasia, occurs in crosses and backcrosses between different mouse (Mus) species. A locus that contributes to this abnormal development has been mapped to the X chromosome. Unexpectedly, an influence of fetal sex on placental development has been observed, in that placentas attached to male fetuses tended to exhibi...

Interspecific hybridization is an important method to widen variations and to develop novel cultivars. Interspecific cross-pollination was carried out among three species of Cucurbita (C. moschata, C. ficifolia and C. martinezii) as male parents with ten cultivars of C. pepo as female parents. Only four cultivars of C. pepo (Eskandarani cv., Queen F , Jedida F and MHTC77 F ) were successful in ...

Homologous genes for alcohol dehydrogenase (alcohol:NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.1) are expressed in qualitatively different patterns during the development of two closely related species of Hawaiian Drosophila. In interspecific hybrids, each parental structural allele is expressed according to the developmental program characteristic of the species from which it is derived. This provides stro...

Developed from crosses between Vitis vinifera and North American Vitis species, interspecific hybrid grape varieties are becoming economically significant in northern areas, where they are now extensively grown for wine production. However, the varietal differences between interspecific hybrids are not well defined, nor are the relationships between hybrid grape and wine composition, which caus...

Small RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and trans-acting siRNAs (tasiRNAs), control gene expression and epigenetic regulation. Although the roles of miRNAs and siRNAs have been extensively studied, their expression diversity and evolution in closely related species and interspecific hybrids are poorly understood. Here, we show comprehensive analyses of miRNA e...

Interspecific mouse hybrids that are viable and fertile provide a wealth of genetic variation that is useful for gene mapping. We are using this genetic variation to develop multilocus linkage maps of the mouse genome. As an outgrowth of this work, we have identified three repetitive probes that collectively identify 28 loci dispersed on 16 of the 19 mouse autosomes and the X chromosome. These ...

Within 10 years of the beginning of experimental genetic research on Drosophila melanogaster, in 1919, A. H. Sturtevant discovered its sibling species, D. simulans. He hybridized the two species and made fundamental discoveries about the genetic basis of hybrid incompatibility. The complete sterility of surviving F(1) hybrids frustrated Sturtevant and his vision of comprehensively exploring the...

Detection of phytoplasma classified in phylogenetic group 16SrI, ‘Ca. Phytoplasma asteris’, in the plants of interspecific genotypes of Brassica oleracea x Brassica napus and their back-cross toward B. oleracea (IW7.7xB1) is reported in Poland. The presence of phytoplasmas in leaves of plants showing failure of flower bud formation but not in the asymptomatic hybrids was demonstrated by polymer...