Molecular Biogeography of Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola L.) Shows Traces of Recent Range Expansion.

Prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola L., Asteraceae), a wild relative of cultivated lettuce, is an autogamous species which greatly expanded throughout Western and Northern Europe during the last 2 centuries. Here, we present a large-scale biogeographic genetic analysis performed on a dataset represented by 2622 individuals from 110 wild European populations.

Differential introgression and reorganization of retrotransposons in hybrid zones between wild wheats.

The maintenance of species integrity despite pervasive hybridization is ruled by the interplay between reproductive barriers. Endogenous postzygotic isolation will shape the patterns of introgression in hybrid zones, leading to variable outcomes depending on the genetic mechanism involved. Here, we analysed experimental and natural hybrid populations of Aegilops geniculata and Aegilops triuncialis to examine the genetics of species boundaries in the face of gene flow.

Wheat alleles introgress into selfing wild relatives: empirical estimates from approximate Bayesian computation in Aegilops triuncialis.

Extensive gene flow between wheat (Triticum sp.) and several wild relatives of the genus Aegilops has recently been detected despite notoriously high levels of selfing in these species. Here, we assess and model the spread of wheat alleles into natural populations of the barbed goatgrass (Aegilops triuncialis), a wild wheat relative prevailing in the Mediterranean flora.

Maize x Teosinte Hybrid Cobs Do Not Prevent Crop Gene Introgression.

Maize x Teosinte Hybrid Cobs Do Not Prevent Crop Gene Introgression. Whether introgression from crops to wild relatives can occur is an important component of transgene risk assessment. In the case of maize, which co-occurs with its wild relative teosinte in Mexico, the possibility of introgression has been controversial.

Gene flow between wheat and wild relatives: empirical evidence from Aegilops geniculata, Ae. neglecta and Ae. triuncialis.

Gene flow between domesticated species and their wild relatives is receiving growing attention. This study addressed introgression between wheat and natural populations of its wild relatives (Aegilops species). The sampling included 472 individuals, collected from 32 Mediterranean populations of three widespread Aegilops species (Aegilops geniculata, Ae.