Year: 2022

HYBRID STERILITY. "Today we would say that hybrid sterility and inviability are caused by incompatible epistatic interactions between genes that have functionally diverged between species." https://lnkd.in/eV72BRp View in LinkedIn

BEYOND DARWIN. "These new findings, along with those from other hybrid incompatibility genes, suggest something that Darwin could never have imagined. In particular, genetic conflicts — involving selfish transposons, repetitive DNAs, drive elements and so forth— rather than good old-fashioned ecological adaptation could drive the divergence that in turn gives rise to hybrid incompatibilities and, consequently, to species differentiation." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982206026649 View in LinkedIn

FIRST SPECIATION GENES. "Pervasive adaptive evolution among interactors of the Drosophila hybrid inviability gene, Nup96." https://lnkd.in/eKz785T View in LinkedIn

SECOND SET OF LETHALITY GENES. "Two Dobzhansky-Muller Genes Interact to Cause Hybrid Lethality in Drosophila. we show that Lethal hybrid rescue (Lhr) has functionally diverged in Drosophila simulans and interacts with Hybrid male rescue (Hmr), which has functionally diverged in D. melanogaster, to cause lethality in F1 hybrid males." https://lnkd.in/earHjdP View in LinkedIn

THIRD SET OF SPECIATION GENES. “An essential cell cycle regulation gene causes hybrid inviability in Drosophila. Despite decades of investigation, the genetic basis of this hybrid F1 male inviability remains incompletely resolved. Consistent with our predictions, gfzfsim resides on the D. simulans third chromosome and is essential for viability." https://lnkd.in/eFexwJZ View in LinkedIn

HYBRID RESCUE GENES. "The discovery of hybrid rescue genes, with mutations that reverse hybrid sterility or inviability, has significantly advanced our understanding of the genetic mechanisms that underlie the evolution of reproductive isolation during or following speciation." https://lnkd.in/eFexwJZ View in LinkedIn

EPISTASIS AND CELL CYCLE ROLES. "The identification of gfzf, in particular, emphasizes the role of cell cycle regulations mechanisms in the evolution of hybrid incompatibilities and the complex epistatic interactions which underlie dominant hybrid incompatibilities in F1 hybrids." https://lnkd.in/eFexwJZ View in LinkedIn

HYBRID INVIABILITY GENES. "They are made unfit at the molecular level by means of hybrid inviability genes, but these have eluded scientific scrutiny. Some but not all such genes have been found—even in intensely studied fruit fly species. Now, however, scientists based at the University of Utah have announced that they have identified a long-sought hybrid inviability gene that keeps two species of fruit flies from producing viable, fertile offspring." https://lnkd.in/eh4dCsa View in LinkedIn

GENE SIGNIFICANCE. "The find is significant for several reasons. It removes an obstacle form our understanding of the molecular basis of reproductive isolation. It implicates cell cycle regulation in the preservation of species barriers." https://lnkd.in/eh4dCsa View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this two weekend fragment on what constitutes a species, especially at the genetic level. Recent work in uncovering speciation genes have gone a long way to illuminate the molecular species barriers that exist. This is the point in history where molecular genetics takes over from Darwin. But what cell cycle regulation has to do with speciation is a gnarly conundrum. View in LinkedIn