> I do not believe any consensus exists among scientists as
>to how much genetic divergence is needed to name a new species. In
>some bacteria, a single gene difference will lead to a new species
>name, while in other bacteria, as much as 30 % of the genome may
>vary within the same "species".
it might even be more. take X triticale for example, sth. like an
interbreed between rye and wheat. at first you get about 50:50 for
the relation of wheat:rye, but if you breed this line and cross it
with a pure wheat, you get something like 75:25, or if crossed with
a pure rye, a relation of 25:75.
i once asked a breeder: is that still a real triticale? and i heard
a loud YES. when i asked: if you go on with mixing the lines and
you got just only 10% of rye, that's still a triticale ? again a
definite YES. when i asked: "what about 5 %?" he said: "depends on
which 5%, you would have difficulties to see it in a single plant,
but certainly you can distiniguish them, when you compare it with a
pure wheat or pure rye."
so what he said, was that the divergence in a "true"
triticale can lie at least between 5 and 95% and it's still
considered a X triticale.
Klaus Wiegand
Landwirtschaftl. Untersuchungs- u. Forschungsanstalt (LUFA)
(Governm. Inst. for Agricult. & Environm. Res.)
67346 Speyer, Obere Langgasse 40 (GERMANY)
Dept. of Seed Sci., Microscop. Analysis & Plant Pathol.
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