Synthetic hybrid speciation: a resource for breeding novel lineages for secondary metabolites

Abstract

Whereas the splitting of ancestral lineage into daughter species remains a common course of speciation, but hybridizing the two related species to give rise to a third independent lineage could be a powerful tool to hybrid speciation. The latter could give way to new plant type/s featuring novel combination for physiological, developmental, and metabolic pathways. Pre-selection of progenitor parental genotypes could enable realization of hybrid lineages with predictable features to a large extent. At the same time such derived lineages shall ensure hybrid fixity through vegetative propagation, but could offer opportunity of seed cultivation through ploidy mediation for fixation and/ or variation through meiotic segregation for selection of novel types. Experimental manoeuvring imitating homoploid speciation or somatic variation could be the other means to release de novo variation. In view of above, a prospective outline is discussed towards qualitative breeding for secondary metabolites.