Asymmetry and polymorphism of hybrid male sterility during the early stages of speciation in house mice - PubMed (original) (raw)

Asymmetry and polymorphism of hybrid male sterility during the early stages of speciation in house mice

Jeffrey M Good et al. Evolution. 2008 Jan.

Abstract

House mice offer a powerful system for dissecting the genetic basis of phenotypes that isolate species in the early stages of speciation. We used a series of reciprocal crosses between wild-derived strains of Mus musculus and M. domesticus to examine F(1) hybrid male sterility, one of the primary phenotypes thought to isolate these species. We report four main results. First, we found significantly smaller testes and fewer sperm in hybrid male progeny of most crosses. Second, in some crosses hybrid male sterility was asymmetric and depended on the species origin of the X chromosome. These observations confirm and extend previous findings, underscoring the central role that the M. musculus X chromosome plays in reproductive isolation. Third, comparisons among reciprocal crosses revealed polymorphism at one or more hybrid incompatibilities within M. musculus. Fourth, the spermatogenic phenotype of this polymorphic interaction appears distinct from previously described hybrid incompatibilities between these species. These data build on previous studies of speciation in house mice and show that the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility is fairly complex, even at this early stage of divergence.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Experimental crossing scheme and genetic composition of F1 hybrid males. (A) Inter- and intraspecific crossing design, reciprocal crosses are indicated with double headed arrows. (B) Schematic of reciprocal interspecific crosses with M. musculus chromosomes colored white and M. domesticus chromosomes colored black. (C) Interspecific crosses involving an inbred female crossed to an intraspecific F1 male. Recombinant genotypes for M. domesticus (LEWES and WSB) and M. musculus (PWK and CZECH) are distinguished with crosshatch shading.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Distributions of relative testis weights (RTW) and sperm counts for male progeny from (A) the combined intraspecific crosses, (B) the interspecific crosses between female M. musculus and male M. domesticus, (C) the interspecific crosses between female M. domesticus and male M. musculus with the strain of the sire indicated (PWK or CZECH), and (D) the interspecific crosses between female _M. domesticus_LEWES and seven outbred M. musculus males. Shading in (B), (C), and (D) indicate values within the observed range of the combined intraspecific crosses (light) or values outside of these distributions (dark).

Figure 3

Figure 3

Histological cross-sections from testes. Panels A and B show seminiferous tubules from males with normal spermatogenesis: (A) M. musculus F1 male (♀ _musculus_PWK × ♂ _musculus_CZECH), (B) interspecific F1 male (♀ _domesticus_LEWES × ♂ _musculus_PWK). Panels C and D are of seminiferous tubules from interspecific F1 males with disrupted spermatogenesis: (C) ♀ _musculus_PWK × ♂ _domesticus_LEWES and (D) ♀ _domesticus_LEWES × ♂ _musculus_CZECH. In panels C and D, note the diminished numbers of germ cells overall, and poor organization of the seminiferous epithelium with clumps of vesiculated cells (D1) and abnormal sperm head morphology (D2).

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