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Haldane's rule


Haldane's rule is an observation about the early stage of speciation, formulated in 1922 by the British evolutionary biologist J.B.S. Haldane, that states that if in a species hybrid only one sex is inviable or sterile, that sex is more likely to be the heterogametic sex. The heterogametic sex is the one with two different sex chromosomes; in mammals, for example, this is the male.

Haldane himself described the rule as:

When in the F1 offspring of two different animal races one sex is absent, rare, or sterile, that sex is the heterozygous sex (heterogametic sex).

Haldane's rule applies to the vast majority of heterogametic organisms. This includes the case where two species make secondary contact in an area of sympatry and form hybrids after allopatric speciation has occurred.

The rule includes both male heterogametic (XY or XO-type sex determination, such as found in mammals and Drosophila fruit flies) and female heterogametic (ZW-type sex determination, as found in birds and butterflies), and some dioecious plants such as campions.

Hybrid dysfunction (sterility and inviability) is a major form of post-zygotic reproductive isolation, which occurs in early stages of speciation. Evolution can produce a similar pattern of isolation in a vast array of different organisms. However, the actual mechanisms leading to Haldane's rule in different taxa remain largely undefined.


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