Postmating barriers to gene flow among species and subspecies of tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Postmating barriers to gene flow between closely related species and subspecies of tsetse flies include (i) reduced fecundity of hybridized and hybrid females and (ii) sterility of hybrid and backcross males, owing mainly to incompatibility between X and Y chromosomes from two different taxa or, possibly, incompatibility between the X from one taxon and autosomes from the other. There are also maternally inherited factors that confer unidirectional sterility upon males; these factors may influence the direction of gene flow. When Glossina morsitans morsitans and Glossina morsitans centralis are crossed, these factors appear to be unstable and lose their effectiveness as barriers to gene flow when hybrid females, from several consecutive generations, are backcrossed to G. m. centralis. In hybrid females of the morsitans group, intrachromosomal recombination is suppressed in the X chromosomes, but it may occur at near normal levels in at least part of linkage group II. Some backcross flies with chromosomes composed of segments from two different taxa are fertile. Naturally occurring hybrids have been found, but it appears that hybridization zones are narrow. It remains to be determined whether introgression of genes plays a significant role in the evolution of tsetse flies.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: