Mice using interspecies breeding to improve resistance

[Sean Aaron]

I've seen a few posters in this board repeating the common misconception that different species are unable to breed successfully. Not only is this not true, but in a very few cases the resulting hybrid is fertile which can greatly impact the evolutionary path of that species. In this case we're seeing evolution in action by mice breeding a resistance to our strongest pesticides.

I expect this will be bad news for farmers who are utterly reliant upon pesticides to protect crop yields; the implications for the uncontrolled spread of rats, which are a greater disease vector are potentially scary as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14462733

Scientists say that some European house mice have developed resistance to the strongest poisons


German and Spanish mice have rapidly evolved the trait by breeding with an Algerian species from which they have been separate for over a million years


The researchers say this type of gene transfer is highly unusual and normally found in plants and bacteria.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

I've seen a few posters in this board repeating the common misconception that different species are unable to breed successfully.

Well... Some of them were using this as a definition for “species” so this doesn't prove them wrong, you know. I don't think anyone would claim that “species” is a well-defined term and that there is a well-defined border between them that can't be crossed. I'm still no less surprised that Neanderthals and humans bred successfully, and a little bit displeased, because I looked forward to cloning them to bring back another intelligent species and now I know that's probably uninteresting as it would just create another race of humans, one that's already part of us it would seem...


This is interesting. As far as I understand it, when breeding if two individuals are too close the risk for disease (both genetic and otherwise) is bigger, and if they are too far apart the risk that it won't work is bigger. I suspect that if it happens to work it's quite possible to create better resistance against some diseases, as both individuals have developed resistance against different forms of the diseases, and different diseases altogether.

 

[Sean Aaron]

True, there is some debate over what a "species" is. I think it eventually comes down to groups of animals that "generally" don't interbreed and have different characteristics. I can be pretty thin though!

 

[iguana_tonante]

I'm still no less surprised that Neanderthals and humans bred successfully, and a little bit displeased, because I looked forward to cloning them to bring back another intelligent species and now I know that's probably uninteresting as it would just create another race of humans, one that's already part of us it would seem...

Wut?

Even if Neanderthals never interbred with Sapiens, there were still a species of humans. The differences would have been marginal. So I don't understand why interbreeding would make it less interesting to meet them in person.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Even if Neanderthals never interbred with Sapiens, there were still a species of humans. The differences would have been marginal.

Yes, it's just that the news made me realize what this is going to mean. Perhaps watching too much Trek had corrupted my notion of “species”, the news that we are part Neanderthal and their descendants fixed it. I hate reality.