Genomic evidence for intraspecific hybridization in a clonal and extremely halotolerant yeast.

H. werneckii appears to be able to form persistent haploid as well as diploid strains, is capable of occasional hybridization between relatively heterozygous haploids, but is otherwise limited to clonal reproduction. The reported data and the first identification of haploid H. werneckii strains establish this species as a good model for studying the effects of ploidy and hybridization in an extremotolerant system unperturbed by frequent genetic recombination.