Intergeneric introgression enhances the adaptive potential of nine-spined stickleback (<i>Pungitius pungitius</i>)

Over the past decades, number of evidences has accumulated that demonstrates the importance of genomic introgression between relatively distant eukaryote species, including the introgression of teleost fish species; the three-spined stickleback (<i>Gasterosteus aculeatus</i>) and the nine-spined stickleback (<i>Pungitius pungitius</i>). The whole-genome datasets of both teleost species give reasons for suggesting that the marine population of nine-spined stickleback increases its adaptive potential to the marine environment through introgression with the anadromous three-spined stickleback. These findings demand a reinterpreting of the mechanisms of evolution towards a process in which organisms acquire new traits not only through longterm accumulation and selection of spontaneous mutations, but also via introgression from other species and ecological forms.