The Key Role of Epigenetics in the Persistence of Asexual Lineages

Figure 1

Expected mechanism leading to the natural occurrence of asexual hybrids in Chrosomus eos-neogaeus. (1) Gynogenetic hybrids resulted from hybridizations between female Chrosomus neogaeus and male C. eos. All-female hybrids are composed of one haploid set of chromosomes from each parental species. (2) Asexual reproduction occurs via gynogenesis: the entire genomic constitution of the mother is transmitted to the eggs and sperm from parental species is required only to initiate cleavage. The resulting offspring are genetically identical to the mother.