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Evolutionary genetics

Chromosomal barriers to sex lifted

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 4, page 248 (2003)Cite this article

The genomes of S. cerevisiae and S. mikatae are known to vary by at least two reciprocal chromosomal translocations, which disturb the collinearity of the two genomes. If these yeast species attempt to mate, sterile progeny result — presumably from the inability of the two rearranged genomes to complement each other to produce viable spores. We do not know what initiates the speciation process, but it has been speculated that genome rearrangements between proto-species reinforce their reproductive isolation.

Delneri et al. effectively backtracked in evolution by engineering laboratory strains of S. cerevisiae to the S. mikatae state at the translocation breakpoint. The popular Cre/loxP system was used to create large reciprocal translocations, resulting in a new strain with a genome that is more collinear with that of S. mikatae. When these engineered strains were mated to S. mikatae, viable progeny resulted. Even so, the matings were not 100% fertile, which indicated that the translocation is not the only important genomic difference between the two species. Further important variations might exist at the single-gene scale, which would only be discovered by sequencing both genomes — projects to sequence multiple yeast species are well underway.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Delneri, D. et al. Engineering evolution to study speciation in yeasts. Nature 422, 68–72 (2003).

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FURTHER READING

  1. Wolfe, K. Speciation reversal. Nature 422, 25–26 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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  1. Associate Editor, Nature,

    Chris Gunter

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  1. Chris Gunter
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Gunter, C. Chromosomal barriers to sex lifted. Nat Rev Genet 4, 248 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1051

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