Widespread Saccharomyces hybridization in agave fermentations arises repeatedly from asymmetric parental diversity

Hybridization between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces paradoxus is widespread across traditional agave fermentations in Mexico, with multiple independent hybrid origins.

• Why it matters: Interspecific hybrids can reshape genomes, but population-level ecological and evolutionary dynamics are unclear; agave fermentations offer a natural setting to study recurrence and ancestry patterns.
• What they did: The study combined a genomic survey across geographically distant regions with targeted sampling of distilleries and nearby natural sites, then used phylogenomics and population-structure analyses to resolve hybrid subgenomes.
• The result: Hybrids were recovered almost exclusively from distilleries, and hybrid subgenomes showed distinct ploidies, variable parental contributions, heterozygosity patterns, and contrasting mitochondrial ancestry, with origins repeatedly linked to asymmetric parental diversity.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.