Hybrids
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how some genetically different parents - from different species - can have offspring and what that says about the origin and evolution of species
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what happens when parents from different species have offspring, despite their genetic differences. In some cases, such as the zebra/donkey hybrid in the image above, the offspring are usually infertile but in others the genetic change can lead to new species with evolutionary advantages. Hybrids can occur naturally, yet most arise from human manipulation and Darwin's study of plant and animal domestication informed his ideas on natural selection.
With
Sandra Knapp
Tropical Botanist at the Natural History Museum
Nicola Nadeau
Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Sheffield
And
Steve Jones
Senior Research Fellow in Genetics at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
Steve Jones at University College London
Nicola Nadeau at the University of Sheffield
Sandra Knapp at the Natural History Museum
Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution – Quanta Magazine
Maladaptive learning and memory in hybrids as a reproductive isolating barrier – Royal Society
Adaptive introgression: a plant perspective – Royal Society
Phylogenomics Reveals Three Sources of Adaptive Variation during a Rapid Radiation – PLOS Biology
Genomic architecture and introgression shape a butterfly radiation – Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
READING LIST:
Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution is True (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Charles Darwin, The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species (first published 1877; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017)
Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (first published 1868; Echo Library, 2007)
Steve Jones, Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Species Updated (Black Swan, 2000)
Steve Jones, Here Comes the Sun: How it Feeds us, Kills us, Heals us and Makes us What we are (Little Brown, 2019)
Michael Leapman, The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild: Forgotten Father of the Flower Garden (St. Martin’s Press, 2001)
Robin Marantz Henig, A Monk and Two Peas: The Story of Gregor Mendel and the Discovery of Genetics (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000)
Broadcasts
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 09:00BBC Radio 4
- Thu 31 Oct 2019 21:30BBC Radio 4
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