Oryza sativa Genome sequencing. Oryza sativa

Hybridization between genetically diverged organisms is known as an important avenue that drives plant genome evolution. The possible outcomes of hybridization would be the occurrences of genetic and epigenetic instabilities in the resultant hybrids. It remains unclear however whether pollination by alien pollens of a closely related but sexually “incompatible” species could evoke genomic changes and to what extend it may result in phenotypic novelties in the derived progenies.