Dissecting Trait Variation across Species Barriers

Carly V Weiss; Rachel B Brem

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2019.07.013

Dissecting Trait Variation across Species Barriers

Trends Ecol Evol. 2019 Dec;34(12):1131-1136. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.07.013. Epub 2019 Aug 20.

Authors

Carly V Weiss¹, Rachel B Brem²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
² Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA, USA. Electronic address: rbrem@buckinstitute.org.

Abstract

Dissecting the basis of naturally occurring trait variation is one of the central goals of modern genetics. For eukaryotes, classic methods for this purpose rely on screens of recombinants from matings between distinct parents. These tools cannot be used in studies of species that cannot mate to form recombinant progeny in the first place. However, new approaches are coming online to shuffle the genomes of otherwise incompatible species. With them, geneticists can elucidate how evolution built a new trait, even if it happened millions of years ago, in a lineage that is now reproductively cutoff from its closest relatives.

Keywords: evolution; interspecific variation; statistical genetics.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Genetic Variation*
Phenotype

Grants and funding

R01 GM120430/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States