The Biological Aspects of Hybridization and its Impact on the Genetic Diversity and Structure of Population

Abstract

Hybridization is an important process which led to many lineages evolution. Increasing genomic tool and methods in genomic analyses, make gene flow between different taxa which generate new phenotypic diversity, permit for variation of new species, and donate to speciation. Hybridization lead to phenotypic changes through the expression of hybrid vigor. On longer evolution time scales, hybridization cause limited alteration through the introgression of new alleles and transgressive segregation and, in some cases caused the formation of new isolates. The abundance and evolution studies of hybridization have interesting role in biology science. A lot of evidences concerning how and why hybridization contributes to biological diversity currently being investigated were first proposed tens and even hundreds of years ago. In this Update, we discuss how new advancements in genomic and genetic tools are revolutionizing our ability to document the occurrence of and investigate the outcomes of hybridization in plants. Moreover, the impacts of hybrids can either be positive or negative. Among the positive attributes of hybrids that have been exploited is heterosis, which results either from dominance, over-dominance or epistasis. Negative ones include sterility, arrested growth of the pollen tube, failure to nuclear reprogramming, proper placenta formation and maternal immune response and embryo abortion.