Adaptive evolution in a conifer hybrid zone is driven by a mosaic of recently introgressed and background genetic variants

Abstract

Mitra Menon et al. study the hybrid zone of two conifer species in New Mexico, and report that adaptation to cooler environments is associated with introgressed variants, whereas drier environments are associated with background genetic variants. These results may indicate how mosaics of allelic variants could show greater resilience to ongoing and future environmental change.