title: Comment on "A test of the snowball theory for the rate of evolution of hybrid incompatibilities".
abstract: Matute et al. (Reports, 17 September 2010, p. 1518) tested the theory that the number of genes involved in hybrid incompatibility increases faster than linearly. However, the method they used is inappropriate because it detects genes that are haploinsufficient in a hybrid background but that would not contribute to lethality in wild-type hybrids, thus overestimating the frequency of hybrid inviability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Barbash
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D018628:Gene Dosage; D017344:Genes, Insect; D005808:Genes, Recessive; D057895:Haploinsufficiency; D057898:Hemizygote; D006579:Heterozygote; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D008297:Male; D012098:Reproduction