If you would like to be added to our EEB seminar notifications listserv, please contact
Joselyn Castellanos.
Seminars
November 13, 2024
12:00 pm - 1:00pm [Hybrid Seminar] Hershey Hall Salon 158 & Zoom
Dr. Jenn Coughlan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University
" The Dual Role of Parental Conflict in Speciation "
Abstract: Determining what factors generate biodiversity is a central question in evolutionary biology. Despite its long history of study, we are only beginning to understand the evolutionary drivers of reproductive barriers between species, including reproductive barriers that manifest as sterile or dead hybrids. An intriguing hypothesis is that intragenomic conflicts- or selfish evolution- can drive the evolution of alleles that cause hybrid sterility/inviability. One such source of conflict is conflict between parents over resource allocation to offspring. Under parental conflict, multiple paternity drives the evolution of paternally derived, resource-acquiring alleles, and maternally derived alleles that distribute resources equally among offspring. In hybrids, mismatches between these parent-of-origin effect alleles can cause inappropriate development of placenta or endosperm, and subsequently embryo death. Here, I test the role of parental conflict in generating one of the most common intrinsic barriers in seed angiosperms- hybrid seed inviability-using members of the evolutionary and ecological model system; the Mimulus guttatus species complex. I show that hybrid seed inviability has evolved rapidly and repeatedly in this group, and patterns of HSI conform to the predictions of parental conflict. Additionally, genetic mapping suggests that hybrid seed inviability is conferred by nuclear, parent-of-origin effect loci (i.e. loci that affect the probability of death only if maternally or paternally derived). Lastly, using a series of natural surveys and mixed pollination crosses, I find that species with different histories of parental conflict frequently co-occur and hybridize, and hybridization between species with differing histories of parental conflict can indirectly influence growth in intraspecific seeds. Overall, this work highlights a dual role of parental conflict in the speciation process; both in the origin of reproductive isolation, but also in the dynamics and outcomes of hybridization in nature.
Zoom Link: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/93798818385
Meeting ID: 937 9881 8385
Host: Stepfanie Aguillon
The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA acknowledges our presence on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples.
The statements on this page represent the views of UCLA’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and their invited speakers, and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of California, or UCLA or its Chancellor.