All-male hybrids of a tetrapod Pelophylax esculentus share its origin and genetics of maintenance.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sexual parasites offer unique insights into the reproduction of unisexual and sexual populations. Because unisexuality is almost exclusively linked to the female sex, most studies addressed host-parasite dynamics in populations where sperm-dependent females dominate. Pelophylax water frogs from Central Europe include hybrids of both sexes, collectively named P. esculentus. They live syntopically with their parental species P. lessonae and/or P. ridibundus. Some hybrid lineages consist of all males providing a chance to understand the origin and perpetuation of a host-parasite (egg-dependent) system compared to sperm-dependent parthenogenesis.

Methods

We focused on P. ridibundus-P. esculentus populations where P. ridibundus of both sexes lives together with only di

SUBMITTER: Dolezalkova-Kastankova M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5880063 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature