The effects of hybridization in plants on secondary chemistry: implications for the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions

Natural hybridization is a frequent phenomenon in plants. It can lead to the formation of new species, facilitate introgression of plant traits, and affect the interactions between plants and their biotic and abiotic environments. An important consequence of hybridization is the generation of qualit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of botany 2000-12, Vol.87 (12), p.1749-1756
Main Author: Orians, Colin M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry
Chemicals
Chemistry
Ecological genetics
Ecology
Evolution
Flowers & plants
Genetic hybridization
Genetics
Herbivores
Hybridity
hybridization
inheritance
introgression
Invited Special Paper
novelty
Plant biochemistry
Plants
plant–herbivore interactions
secondary chemistry
Taxa
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Summary:Natural hybridization is a frequent phenomenon in plants. It can lead to the formation of new species, facilitate introgression of plant traits, and affect the interactions between plants and their biotic and abiotic environments. An important consequence of hybridization is the generation of qualitative and quantitative variation in secondary chemistry. Using the literature and my own results, I review the effects of hybridization on plant secondary chemistry, the mechanisms that generate patterns of chemical variation, and the possible consequences of this variation for plants and herbivores. Hybrids are immensely variable. Qualitatively, hybrids may express all of the secondary chemicals of the parental taxa, may fail to express certain parental chemicals, or may express novel chemicals that are absent in each parent. Quantitatively, concentrations of parental chemicals may vary markedly among hybrids. There are five primary factors that contribute to variation: parental taxa, hybrid class (F1, F2, etc.), ploidy level, chemical class, and the genetics of expression (dominance, recessive vs. additive inheritance). This variation is likely to affect the process of chemical diversification, the potential for introgression, the likelihood that hybrids will facilitate host shifts by herbivores, and the conditions that might lead to enhanced hybrid susceptibility and lower fitness.
ISSN:0002-9122
1537-2197
DOI:10.2307/2656824