Background Hybrids are chimeric organisms with highly plastic heterozygous genomes that
may confer unique traits enabling the adaptation to new environments. However, most …

Interspecific hybridization can drive evolutionary adaptation to novel environments. The
Saccharomycotina clade of budding yeasts includes many hybrid lineages, and …

Background Opportunistic yeast pathogens of the genus Candida are an important medical
problem. Candida albicans, the most prevalent Candida species, is a natural commensal of …

Candida albicans is a commensal and the most frequent fungal pathogen of humans. One
mechanism of genetic variation in this diploid asexual yeast involves loss of heterozygosity …

The genomes of hybrids often show substantial deviations from the features of the parent
genomes, including genomic instabilities characterized by chromosomal rearrangements …

Highlights•Hybridisation is the crossing of divergent lineages.•Hybridisation in pervasive in
Saccharomycotina yeasts.•It is a source of genetic diversity, shapes evolution and …

In eukaryotes, the number and rough organization of chromosomes is well preserved within
isolates of the same species. Novel chromosomes and loss of chromosomes are infrequent …

Hybrids are chimeric organisms carrying genetic material from at least two divergent
parental lineages. Hybridization can contribute to the emergence of novel lineages with …

Hybridization between different species can result in the emergence of new lineages and
adaptive phenotypes. Occasionally, hybridization in fungal organisms can drive the …

Diploid organisms are buffered against the effects of mutations by carrying two sets of each
gene, which allows compensation if one is mutated. But recombination between “mom” and …