Do chromosomal hybrids necessarily suffer from developmental instability? |
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Authors: | ELODIE GAZAVE JOSETTE CATALAN MARIA DA GRACA RAMALHINHO MARIA DA LUZ MATHIAS ANA CLAUDIA NUNES JANICE BRITTON-DAVIDIAN JEAN-CHRISTOPHE AUFFRAY |
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Affiliation: | Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR CNRS, CC 064, Universitéde Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France; Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Museu Nacional de Historia Natural, Rua de Escola Politecnica, 1268-102 Lisboa, Portugal; Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Departamento de Zoologia e Antropologia da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Edificio C2, 3°piso, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal |
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Abstract: | The role of chromosomal rearrangements in disturbing reproduction in hybrids between karyotypically differentiated groups is fairly well documented. However, the effect of chromosomal changes at other phenotypic levels is rarely considered. In Tunisia, natural chromosomal hybrids of the house mouse exhibit developmental instability, suggesting that a high karyotypic heterozygosity might also affect developmental processes. If this is true, we predict that, in this species, developmental instability should arise in hybrids between any populations with a high chromosomal differentiation. To test this hypothesis, we compare the results obtained in Tunisian mice with those obtained in the present analysis on Madeiran mice. Both systems of races have similar levels of chromosomal differentiation (nine Robertsonian fusions). Unlike Tunisian mice, hybrids in Madeira display a similar level of developmental instability as parental groups. This indicates that structural heterozygosity per se does not necessarily impair developmental stability. It further suggests that chromosomal fusions are not all equivalent in their phenotypic effects, and that the identity of each fusion should be taken into account. © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 88 , 33–43. |
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Keywords: | chromosomal differentiation developmental stability house mouse Robertsonian fusion structural heterozygosity |
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