Polyploidy: A Biological Force From Cells to Ecosystems

Abstract

Polyploidy, resulting from the duplication of the entire genome of an organism or cell, greatly affects genes and genomes, cells and tissues, organisms, and even entire ecosystems. Despite the wide-reaching importance of polyploidy, communication across disciplinary boundaries to identify common themes at different scales has been almost nonexistent. However, a critical need remains to understand commonalities that derive from shared polyploid cellular processes across organismal diversity, levels of biological organization, and fields of inquiry - from biodiversity and biocomplexity to medicine and agriculture. Here, we review the current understanding of polyploidy at the organismal and suborganismal levels, identify shared research themes and elements, and propose new directions to integrate research on polyploidy toward confronting interdisciplinary grand challenges of the 21^st century.

Keywords: cellular polyploidy; endoreplication; organismal polyploidy; polyploidy; whole-genome duplication.

Fig. 1.

The central role of polyploidy (whole-genome duplication; WGD). Polyploidy, explained in the center of the diagram, is a driving force in organismal evolution. Elucidating the consequences of WGD at multiple levels (cellular to organismal) is key to understanding global patterns of biodiversity and ecology, as well as cellular fates, physiology, and metabolism. The implications of polyploidy range from cells to ecosystems and from agriculture to medicine and more.