Complex deleterious interactions associated with malic enzyme may contribute to reproductive isolation in the copepod Tigriopus californicus.

ABSTRACT: Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities can result from the interactions of more than a single pair of interacting genes and there are several different models of how such complex interactions can be structured. Previous empirical work has identified complex conspecific epistasis as a form of complex interaction that has contributed to postzygotic reproductive isolation between taxa, but other forms of complexity are also possible. Here, I probe the genetic basis of reproductive isolation in crosses of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus by looking at the impact of markers in genes encoding metabolic enzymes in F(2) hybrids. The region of the genome associated with the locus ME2 is shown to have strong, repeatable impacts on the fitness of hybrids in crosses and epistatic interaction

SUBMITTER: Willett CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3120845 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature