PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Rieseberg, Loren H. AU - Raymond, Olivier AU - Rosenthal, David M. AU - Lai, Zhao AU - Livingstone, Kevin AU - Nakazato, Takuya AU - Durphy, Jennifer L. AU - Schwarzbach, Andrea E. AU - Donovan, Lisa A. AU - Lexer, Christian TI - Major Ecological Transitions in Wild Sunflowers Facilitated by Hybridization AID - 10.1126/science.1086949 DP - 2003 Aug 29 TA - Science PG - 1211--1216 VI - 301 IP - 5637 4099 - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/301/5637/1211.short 4100 - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/301/5637/1211.full SO - Science2003 Aug 29; 301 AB - Hybridization is frequent in many organismal groups, but its role in adaptation is poorly understood. In sunflowers, species found in the most extreme habitats are ancient hybrids, and new gene combinations generated by hybridization are speculated to have contributed to ecological divergence. This possibility was tested through phenotypic and genomic comparisons of ancient and synthetic hybrids. Most trait differences in ancient hybrids could be recreated by complementary gene action in synthetic hybrids and were favored by selection. The same combinations of parental chromosomal segments required to generate extreme phenotypes in synthetic hybrids also occurred in ancient hybrids. Thus, hybridization facilitated ecological divergence in sunflowers.