Abstract
Compared with other phylogenetic groups, self-fertilization (selfing) is exceedingly rare in vertebrates and is known to occur only in one small clade of fishes. Here we report observing one F1-hybrid individual that developed into a functional hermaphrodite after crossing two closely-related sexually reproducing species of cichlids. Microsatellite alleles segregated consistent with selfing and Mendelian inheritance and we could rule out different modes of parthenogenesis including automixis. We discuss why selfing is not more commonly observed in vertebrates in nature, and the role of hybridization in the evolution of novel traits.
Highlights
Functional hermaphroditism is common in both plants and animals but is exceedingly rare among vertebrates [1]
All alleles of each offspring were present in the intersex and together with the fact that the intersex was held in isolation, we can for each analysed offspring confidently exclude all known modes of reproduction in vertebrates except selfing
We modelled the distribution of Ho values based on the simulated full-sib mating in a computer model which showed that the observed value is significantly lower than the simulated heterozygosity (Ho (5–95% CI) = 0.746 (0.611–0.861); p < 0.001)
Summary
Functional hermaphroditism is common in both plants and animals but is exceedingly rare among vertebrates [1]. The vertebrate exception is teleost fishes in which functional hermaphroditism has been reported in 27 families in seven orders, predominantly among tropical marine perciforms [2]. Self-fertilization (selfing) is much rarer than hermaphroditism, this too is found in many animal and plant taxa [3]. There are more than 80 known taxa of vertebrates that reproduce without sex [4], whereas selfing has only been observed in the clade with two species of Kryptolebias [2,5]. All known parthenogenic lineages have hybrid origin [6].
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