Interspecific hybrids show a reduced adaptive potential under DNA damaging conditions

The data is framed in a context of experimental evolution. 

Popular Summary: Hybridization between species can be a dead end or a stimulus for adaptation and speciation. This stimulus could be fueled, among other things, by the intrinsic elevated rate of evolution of hybrid genomes. Whether this serves as an advantage for hybrids when faced with extreme stress is largely unknown. Here we tested this by evolving yeast species and their hybrids in UV mimetic conditions. We find that hybrids adapt slower than parental species in these conditions. We reason that this may be caused by the fact that the intrinsic genome instability of hybrids is pushed to levels above which it helps adaptive evolution.