Hybrids unleashed: exploring the emergence and genomic insights of pathogenic yeast hybrids

Hybridisation is the crossing of two divergent lineages that give rise to offspring carrying an admixture of both parental genomes. Genome sequencing has revealed that this process is common in the Saccharomycotina, where a growing number of hybrid strains or species, including many pathogenic ones, have been recently described. Hybrids can display unique traits that may drive adaptation to new niches, and some pathogenic hybrids have been shown to have higher prevalence over their parents in human and environmental niches, suggesting a higher fitness and potential to colonise humans. Here, we discuss how hybridisation and its genomic and phenotypic outcomes can shape the evolution of fungal species and may play a role in the emergence of new pathogens.