Reconstructing the history of selection during homoploid hybrid speciation

This study aims to identify selection pressures during the historical process of homoploid hybrid speciation in three Helianthus ( sunflower) hybrid species. If selection against intrinsic genetic incompatibilities ( fertility selection) or for important morphological/ecological traits ( phenotypic selection) were important in hybrid speciation, we would expect this selection to have influenced the parentage of molecular markers or chromosomal segments in the hybrid species' genomes. To infer past selection, we compared the parentage of molecular markers in high-density maps of the three hybrid species with predicted marker parentage from an analysis of fertility selection in artificial hybrids and from the directions of quantitative trait loci effects with respect to the phenotypes of the hybrid species. Multiple logistic regression models were consistent with both fertility and phenotypic selection in all three species. To further investigate traits under selection, we used a permutation test to determine whether marker parentage predicted from groups of functionally related traits differed from neutral expectations. Our results suggest that trait groups associated with ecological divergence were under selection during hybrid speciation. This study presents a new method to test for selection and supports earlier claims that fertility selection and phenotypic selection on ecologically relevant traits have operated simultaneously during sunflower hybrid speciation.