Paternal chromosome loss and metabolic crisis contribute to hybrid inviability in Xenopus.

ABSTRACT: Hybridization of eggs and sperm from closely related species can give rise to genetic diversity, or can lead to embryo inviability owing to incompatibility. Although central to evolution, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying post-zygotic barriers that drive reproductive isolation and speciation remain largely unknown. Species of the African clawed frog Xenopus provide an ideal system to study hybridization and genome evolution. Xenopus laevis is an allotetraploid with 36 chromosomes that arose through interspecific hybridization of diploid progenitors, whereas Xenopus tropicalis is a diploid with 20 chromosomes that diverged from a common ancestor approximately 48 million years ago. Differences in genome size between the two species are accompanied by organism size differences,

SUBMITTER: Gibeaux R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5988642 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature