Two organisms are considered to be of the same species if
when they mate they produce viable offspring that are able to reproduce. People often wondered why mating between
similar species does not produce fertile offspring. Research done by Professor Axel Imhof at
Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich provided information that displayed
that the level and not the sequence of important proteins is key to
reproductive isolation. The reason why
when species begin to diverge from one another their hybrids can’t reproduce is
because particular genes tend to evolve at a much quicker rate than
others. These genes cause problems for
one another in a hybrid mating. These
Dobzhansky-Muller pairs of genes are not compatible in a hybrid. The results of an experiment tested on fruit
flies solidified the theory that the different amounts of proteins were the
cause for the unsuccessful attempts of a cross resulting in a viable offspring
with the ability to reproduce effectively.
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