Title: The genomic consequences of hybridization Authors: Benjamin M Moran1,2*+, Cheyenne Payne1,2*+, Quinn Langdon1, Daniel L Powell1,2, Yaniv Brandvain3, Molly Schumer1,2,4+ Affiliations: 1Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA 2Centro de Investigaciones Científicas de las Huastecas “Aguazarca”, A.C., Calnali, Hidalgo, Mexico 3Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior and Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA 4Hanna H. Gray Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, CA, USA *Contributed equally to this work +Correspondence:
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[email protected] Abstract In the past decade, advances in genome sequencing have allowed researchers to uncover the history of hybridization in diverse groups of species, including our own. Although the field has made impressive progress in documenting the extent of natural hybridization, both historical and recent, there are still many unanswered questions about its genetic and evolutionary consequences. Recent work has suggested that the outcomes of hybridization in the genome may be in part predictable, but many open questions about the nature of selection on hybrids and the biological variables that shape such selection have hampered progress in this area. We discuss what is known about the mechanisms that drive changes in ancestry in the genome after hybridization, highlight major unresolved questions, and discuss their implications for the predictability of genome evolution after hybridization. Introduction Recent evidence has shown that hybridization between species is common. Hybridization is widespread across the tree of life, spanning both ancient and recent timescales and a broad range of divergence levels between taxa [1–10]. This appreciation of the prevalence of hybridization has renewed interest among researchers in understanding its consequences.