Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Jan 20, 2022 | 7 min read
Studies have found that organisms can inherit mitochondria from male parents in rare instances, and both theoretical and experimental work hint that this biparental inheritance is more than just a fluke.
The genomes of living animals are littered with DNA from long-gone relatives, providing a lens on evolution, past extinctions, and perhaps even solutions to agricultural problems.
In the 20th century, animals such as mules and ligers that had parents of different species were considered biological flukes, but genetic sequencing is beginning to unravel the critical role of hybridization in evolution.
Genetically modified Atlantic salmon, which could soon become the first transgenic animal sold as food in the U.S., can breed with wild brown trout to produce a GM hybrid.