Heterosis in hybrids within and between yeast species

• DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13023
• Publication Date: 2016-12-09T07:16:48Z
• Authors: J. P. Bernardes; R. B. Stelkens; D. Greig
• Keywords: Epistasis; Assortative mating

The performance of hybrids relative to their parents is an important factor in speciation research. We measured the growth 46 Saccharomyces yeast F1 interspecific and intraspecific hybrids, each parents, pairwise competition assays. found that a hybrid average its measure mid-parent heterosis, correlated with difference parental hybrid, phenotypic divergence, which consistent simple complementation low fitness alleles one parent by high other. Interspecific showed stronger heterosis than hybrids. To manipulate divergence independently genotype, we also competitive single 12 different environments. In these assays, not only identified strong relationship between as before, but, more tentatively, weak best-parent suggesting deleterious mutations was sole cause heterosis. Our results show mating species can be beneficial, demonstrate assays offspring are useful way study evolutionary consequences hybridization.