Wesley R. Elsberry
Posts: 4991
Joined: May 2002
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Cross-species Mating May Be Evolutionarily Important And Lead To Rapid Change, Say Indiana University Researchers
| Quote | BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Like the snap of a clothespin, the sudden mixing of closely related species may occasionally provide the energy to impel rapid evolutionary change, according to a new report by researchers from Indiana University Bloomington and three other institutions. Their paper will be made available online by Science magazine's "Science Express" service on Thursday (August 7) at 2 p.m. EDT.
A study of sunflower species that began 15 years ago shows that the sudden mixing and matching of different species' genes can create genetic super-combinations that are considerably more advantageous to the survival and reproduction of their owners than the gene combinations their parents possess.
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