Non-additive genetic effects induce novel phenotypic distributions in male mating traits of F1 hybrids

Abstract

Hybridization is a source of phenotypic novelty and variation because of increased additive genetic variation. Yet, the roles of non-additive allelic interactions in shaping phenotypic mean and variance of hybrids have been underappreciated. Here we examine the distributions of male-mating traits in F1 hybrids via a meta-analysis of 3208 effect sizes from 39 animal species pairs. Although additivity sets phenotypic distributions of F1s to be intermediate, F1s also showed dominance and maternal inheritance. F1s expressed novel phenotypes (beyond the range of both parents) in 65% of species pairs, often associated with increased phenotypic variability. Overall, however, F1s expressed smaller variation than parents in 51% of traits. While genetic divergence between parents did not impact phenotypic novelty, it increased phenotypic variability of F1s. By creating novel phenotypes with increased variability, non-additivity of heterozygotic genome may play key roles in determining mating success of F1s, and their subsequent extinction or speciation.