In principle, as long as the resulting embryo is viable, a gynandromorph-like organism could be a hybrid consisting of halves of two different organisms with distinct genomes.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Fig. 4: Three views of a bilateral gynandromorph.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
But, in principle, a gynandromorph-like organism could consist of halves of two different organisms with distinct genomes as long as the resulting embryo is viable.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Mosquitoes exhibit the basic palette of gynandromorphic types described in Sec. 4, namely, bilateral, polar and oblique .
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
In addition to sexually mixed morphology, gynandromorphs can have conflicting sex based behavior .
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
It turns out the possible developments of gynandromorphs satisfy a combinatory logic.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Fig. 8: Two views of networks generating a gynandromorph with a male midsection.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Fig. 9: Signatures of meta-networks that generate basic gynandromorphs.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
If they are deterministic then the same gynandromorphic phenotype will develop in all individuals whose cells are controlled by that network.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
If the links are stochastic and occur with low probability then we get what we see in the case of mosquitos were only a very small number of individuals appear to be gynandromorphs.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
However, because many gynandromorphs may be subtle variations of the millions of possibilities that are not overtly obvious, there may exist many more gynandromorphs than have been recognized as such.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Therefore, chromosome placement limits the types of possible gynandromorphs.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
However, the early development of the embryo can influence chromosomal placement so that one may still get the basic gynandromorphs including bilateral, polar and oblique.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Furthermore, the existence of gynandromorphs appears to indicate that control of which parental network is active at any given point in development cannot be a simple compromise between both networks that takes the average of two conflicting directives to a given cell at each point in time.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
Since the same initial cell type can lead to two different morphologies in the two bilateral halves of gynandromorphs, the genome and not the containing cell is the prime driver of multicellular morphology.
A Developmental Network Theory of Gynandromorphs, Sexual Dimorphism and Species Formation
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