How the plant immune system can drive the formation of new species

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Example of thale cress suffering from hybrid necrosis. Left and right are the healthy parents center is the sick hybrid offspring. Credit: Image: Kirsten Bomblies
Example of thale cress suffering from hybrid necrosis. Left and right are the healthy parents; center is the sick hybrid offspring. Credit: Image: Kirsten Bomblies

Plant geneticists know that not all plants from the same species can be successfully bred. Apparently, there are reproductive barriers that not only prevent the exchange of genes between well-established species (which goes to the very definition of a species), but also between varieties of one and the same species. How these barriers arise is of central importance if one wants to understand the origin of biodiversity.


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