Department of Biology, University of Rochester, New York14627, USA.
Nat Rev Genet. 2010 Mar;11(3):175-80. doi: 10.1038/nrg2718. Epub 2010 Jan 6.
All plant and animal species arise by speciation - the evolutionary splitting of one species into two reproductively incompatible species. But until recently our understanding of the molecular genetic details of speciation was slow in coming and largely limited to Drosophila species. Here, I review progress in determining the molecular identities and evolutionary histories of several new 'speciation genes' that cause hybrid dysfunction between species of yeast, flies, mice and plants. The new work suggests that, surprisingly, the first steps in the evolution of hybrid dysfunction are not necessarily adaptive.
所有动植物物种都是通过物种形成产生的——一个物种分裂成两个生殖上不能兼容的物种。但直到最近，我们对物种形成的分子遗传细节的理解进展缓慢，而且主要局限于果蝇物种。在这里，我回顾了确定几种新的“物种形成基因”的分子身份和进化历史的进展，这些基因导致酵母、苍蝇、老鼠和植物物种之间的杂种不育。这项新的工作表明，令人惊讶的是，杂种不育进化的第一步不一定是适应性的。
