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. 2016 Feb 12;8(3):556-61.
doi: 10.1093/gbe/evw024.

Drosophila Females Undergo Genome Expansion after Interspecific Hybridization

Valèria Romero-Soriano  1 , Nelly Burlet  2 , Doris Vela  3 , Antonio Fontdevila  1 , Cristina Vieira  2 , María Pilar García Guerreiro  4
Affiliations

Drosophila Females Undergo Genome Expansion after Interspecific Hybridization

Valèria Romero-Soriano et al. Genome Biol Evol. .

Abstract

Genome size (or C-value) can present a wide range of values among eukaryotes. This variation has been attributed to differences in the amplification and deletion of different noncoding repetitive sequences, particularly transposable elements (TEs). TEs can be activated under different stress conditions such as interspecific hybridization events, as described for several species of animals and plants. These massive transposition episodes can lead to considerable genome expansions that could ultimately be involved in hybrid speciation processes. Here, we describe the effects of hybridization and introgression on genome size of Drosophila hybrids. We measured the genome size of two close Drosophila species, Drosophila buzzatii and Drosophila koepferae, their F1 offspring and the offspring from three generations of backcrossed hybrids; where mobilization of up to 28 different TEs was previously detected. We show that hybrid females indeed present a genome expansion, especially in the first backcross, which could likely be explained by transposition events. Hybrid males, which exhibit more variable C-values among individuals of the same generation, do not present an increased genome size. Thus, we demonstrate that the impact of hybridization on genome size can be detected through flow cytometry and is sex-dependent.

Keywords: AFLP markers; Drosophila; flow cytometry; genome size; hybrids; transposable elements.

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Figures

F<sc>ig</sc>. 1.—
Fig. 1.—
Diagram of crosses. A first interspecific massal cross of ten D. koepferae females with ten D. buzzatii males was followed by three subsequent backcrosses of ten hybrid females with ten D. buzzatii males. The D. buzzatii expected mean genome fraction of each generation is presented in parentheses.
F<sc>ig</sc>. 2.—
Fig. 2.—
(A) Parental species mean genome size. *: P value < 0.05; **: P value < 0.01; ***: P value < 0.001 (Wilcoxon rank sum test W significant differences between species and sexes). (B and C) Mean genome size for parental species and all hybrid generations (gray bars) compared with theoretical mean values (red line) for female (B) and male (C) samples. Dbu: D. buzzatii; Dko: D. koepferae. Error bars represent standard error. *: P value < 0.05; **: P value < 0.01 Not useful (Wilcoxon signed-rank test V significant differences comparing experimental measures with the theoretical value).
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