Oncogenic allelic interaction in <i>Xiphophorus</i> highlights hybrid incompatibility
Yuan Lu, Angel Sandoval, Sarah M. Voss, Zhao Lai, Susanne Kneitz, Will Boswell, Mikki Boswell, Markita Savage, Christi A. Walter, Wes Warren, Manfred Schartl, Ronald B. Walter
Abstract
Significance The Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller (BDM) model describes negative epistatic interactions that occur between genes with a different evolutionary history to account for hybrid incompatibility and is a central theory explaining genetic mechanisms underlying speciation. Since the early 1900 s when the BDM model was forwarded examples of BDM incompatibility have been described in only a few nonvertebrate cases. This study reports the only vertebrate system, with clearly defined interacting loci, that supports the BDM model. In addition, this study also poses that tumorigenesis serves as a novel mechanism that accounts for postzygotic isolation.