The evolution of hybrid infertility: perpetual coevolution between gender-specific and sexually antagonistic genes

A new hypothesis is proposed for the rapid evolution of postzygotic reproductive isolation via hybrid infertility. The hypothesis is motivated by two lines of experimental research from Drosophila melanogaster that demonstrate that sexually antagonistic fitness variation is abundant and that epistat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGenetica Vol. 116; no. 2-3; pp. 179 - 188
Main Authors Rice, William R, Chippindale, Adam K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Netherlands Springer Nature B.V 01.11.2002
Subjects
Allopatric populations
Animals
Biological Evolution
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Epistasis, Genetic
Experimental research
Gender
Hybridization, Genetic
Infertility
Infertility - genetics
Y Chromosome - genetics
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Summary:A new hypothesis is proposed for the rapid evolution of postzygotic reproductive isolation via hybrid infertility. The hypothesis is motivated by two lines of experimental research from Drosophila melanogaster that demonstrate that sexually antagonistic fitness variation is abundant and that epistatic fitness variation on the Y chromosome is common. The hypothesis states that the expression of sexually antagonistic genes leads to a 'gender-load' in each sex. In response, gender-limited reproductive genes are selected to ameliorate, through pleiotropy, the expression of sexually antagonistic genes. Chronic coevolution between gender-limited genes and gender-unlimited sexually antagonistic genes causes rapid divergence of reproductive proteins among allopatric populations, ultimately leading to hybrid infertility.
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ISSN:0016-6707
1573-6857
DOI:10.1023/A:1021205130926