Natural hybridization and genome size
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| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The frequency of spontaneous hybrids is non-randomly distributed among plant taxa: while some genera or families contain large numbers of hybrids, the majority contain none. Relationship was found between hybrid promiscuity and genome size in Cirsium: species with smaller genomes hybridize frequently, while those with larger genomes produce few or no hybrids. Moreover, negative correlation between the frequency of natural hybridization and the genome size difference between parental taxa was documented in the most commonly hybridizing Cirsium species pairs. A similar relation was found in Epilobium. We tested the general model "the higher frequency of hybridization, the smaller genomes" on complete datasets about vascular floras of Great Britain, Germany, and the Czech Republic. The correlation between the average genome size and hybrid promiscuity (counted as number of hybrids / number of species within a particular genus or family) was confirmed both on generic and family. |
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