| Abstract Detail
Ecological Section Campbell, Lesley G. [1], Snow, Allison [1], Sweeney, P. M. [1]. Persistent crop allele introgression after rapid evolution of wild-type phenotype in crop-wild hybrids. Hybrid offspring routinely suffer from reduced fertility and poorly adapted phenotypes. Consequently, these plants are unlikely weeds. Consequently, risk assessments of crop-wild hybrids often dismiss the potential for crop gene flow to produce ‘superweeds’. However, without empirical evidence, the evolutionary potential of early-generation hybrids remains hypothetical. We explore the potential for rapid hybrid evolution and its consequences for crop allele introgression. Using hybrids of cultivated (Raphanus sativus) and wild radish (R. raphanistrum), we measured the response to selection for weedy traits (e.g., early flowering). Hybrids rapidly evolved to become phenotypically indistinguishable from wild radish. Despite selection for a wild phenotype, hybrids maintained high frequencies of a crop-derived allele (39-49%), confirming persistent introgression. Simultaneously, hybrid fertility rapidly evolved, a key component limiting hybrid fitness. Evolution via selection, in the absence of back-crossing, may allow hybrid lineages to revert rapidly to wild phenotypes while maintaining high frequencies of crop-derived alleles.
Log in to add this item to your schedule
1 - Ohio State University, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, 300 Aronoff Laboratory, 318 W. 12th Ave., Columbus, Ohio, 43210-1293, USA
Keywords:
Artificial Selection
Crop-to-Wild Gene Flow
Correlated Evolution
evolutionary ecology
flowering time
Plant Size.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: CP30
Location: Williford B/Hilton
Date: Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: CP30004
Abstract ID:835 |
