TY - JOUR

T1 - A mitochondrial genetic divergence proxy predicts the reproductive compatibility of mammalian hybrids

AU - Allen, Richard

AU - Ryan, Hannah

AU - Davis, Brian W.

AU - King, Charlotte

AU - Frantz, Laurent

AU - Irving-Pease, Evan

AU - Barnett, Ross

AU - Linderholm, Anna

AU - Loog, Liisa

AU - Haile, James

AU - Lebrasseur, Ophélie

AU - White, Mark

AU - Kitchener, Andrew C.

AU - Murphy, William J.

AU - Larson, Greger

N1 - Funding Information: Competing interests. We declare we have no competing interests. Funding. G.L. was supported by the European Research Council (grant no. ERC-2013-StG 337574-UNDEAD) and the Natural Environment Research Council (grant nos. NE/H005269/1 and NE/K005243/1). W.J.M. was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant no. DEB-1753760). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Numerous pairs of evolutionarily divergent mammalian species have been shown to produce hybrid offspring. In some cases, F 1 hybrids are able to produce F 2 s through matings with F 1 s. In other instances, the hybrids are only able to produce offspring themselves through backcrosses with a parent species owing to unisexual sterility (Haldane's Rule). Here, we explicitly tested whether genetic distance, computed from mitochondrial and nuclear genes, can be used as a proxy to predict the relative fertility of the hybrid offspring resulting from matings between species of terrestrial mammals. We assessed the proxy's predictive power using a well-characterized felid hybrid system, and applied it to modern and ancient hominins. Our results revealed a small overlap in mitochondrial genetic distance values that distinguish species pairs whose calculated distances fall within two categories: those whose hybrid offspring follow Haldane's Rule, and those whose hybrid F 1 offspring can produce F 2 s. The strong correlation between genetic distance and hybrid fertility demonstrated here suggests that this proxy can be employed to predict whether the hybrid offspring of two mammalian species will follow Haldane's Rule.

AB - Numerous pairs of evolutionarily divergent mammalian species have been shown to produce hybrid offspring. In some cases, F 1 hybrids are able to produce F 2 s through matings with F 1 s. In other instances, the hybrids are only able to produce offspring themselves through backcrosses with a parent species owing to unisexual sterility (Haldane's Rule). Here, we explicitly tested whether genetic distance, computed from mitochondrial and nuclear genes, can be used as a proxy to predict the relative fertility of the hybrid offspring resulting from matings between species of terrestrial mammals. We assessed the proxy's predictive power using a well-characterized felid hybrid system, and applied it to modern and ancient hominins. Our results revealed a small overlap in mitochondrial genetic distance values that distinguish species pairs whose calculated distances fall within two categories: those whose hybrid offspring follow Haldane's Rule, and those whose hybrid F 1 offspring can produce F 2 s. The strong correlation between genetic distance and hybrid fertility demonstrated here suggests that this proxy can be employed to predict whether the hybrid offspring of two mammalian species will follow Haldane's Rule.

KW - evolution

KW - gene flow

KW - genetic distance

KW - hybrid

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2020.0690

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2020.0690

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32486979

AN - SCOPUS:85085908545

VL - 287

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8452

IS - 1928

M1 - 20200690

ER -