Polyploidy in arctic plants
2004/08/09 by C. BROCHMANN, Christian Brochmann, A. K. BRYSTING +11 · 618 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Arctic #Arctic vegetation #Biology #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #Ecology #Flora (microbiology) #Genetics #Glacial period #Paleontology #Plant Pathogens and Resistance #Plant Taxonomy and Phylogenetics #Ploidy #Polyploid #Taxon #Tundra #Zoology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2004.00337.x
published in Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 82(4), 521-536 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2004/08/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract
The Arctic is an excellent model system for the study of polyploidy. It is one the Earth's most polyploid-rich areas, in particular of high-level and recently evolved polyploids. Here we re-address previous hypotheses on arctic polyploidy based on a new analysis of the circumarctic flora, and review recent molecular, cytological and reproductive studies. The frequency and level of polyploidy strongly increase northwards within the Arctic. We found no clear-cut association between polyploidy and the degree of glaciation for the arctic flora as a whole, which contains many widespread species. However, for ‘arctic specialist’ taxa with restricted distributions, the frequency of diploids is much higher in the Beringian area, which remained largely unglaciated during the last ice age, than in the heavily glaciated Atlantic area. This result supports the hypothesis that polyploids are more successful than diploids in colonizing after deglaciation. There is abundant molecular evidence for recurrent formation of arctic polyploids at different scales in time and space. Examples are given of low-level polyploids formed after the last glaciation and of repeated and successively more high-level polyploidizations throughout the Quaternary. Recurrent polyploid origins, followed by interbreeding within and across ploidal levels, provide a major explanation for the taxonomic complexity of the arctic flora. In the well-studied, recently deglaciated archipelago of Svalbard, most species are mainly self-fertilizing or clonal. All Svalbard polyploids examined so far are genetic allopolyploids with fixed heterozygosity at isozyme loci. The level of heterozygosity in 65 taxa increases dramatically from diploids to high-level polyploids. In the circumarctic area, there is evidence for numerous recently evolved sibling species within diploid taxonomic species. Rapid evolution of crossing barriers at the diploid level promotes further diversification after expansion from different refugia, and may provide new raw materials for allopolyploid formation. We conclude that the evolutionary success of polyploids in the Arctic may be based on their fixed-heterozygous genomes, which buffer against inbreeding and genetic drift through periods of dramatic climate change.
Cited by
- Disparity, diversity, and duplications in the Caryophyllales
- Growth‐regulating factor 5 (GRF5)‐mediated gene regulatory network promotes leaf growth and expansion in poplar
- Dynamics of Mixed-Ploidy Populations under Demographic and Environmental Stochasticities
- Polyploid goldback and silverback ferns (Pentagramma) occupy a wider, colder, and wetter bioclimatic niche than diploid counterparts
- The changing biodiversity of the Arctic flora in the Anthropocene
- Multiple Autopolyploid Arabidopsis lyrata Populations Stabilized by Long-Range Adaptive Introgression Across Eurasia
- The Genetic Consequences of Range Expansion and Its Influence on Diploidization in Polyploids
- Genome size comparison in Colobanthus quitensis populations show differences in species ploidy
- Polyploidy and genome evolution in plants
- The Scaling of Genome Size and Cell Size Limits Maximum Rates of Photosynthesis with Implications for Ecological Strategies
- The role of deep hybridization in fern speciation: Examples from the Thelypteridaceae
- Polyploidy: an evolutionary and ecological force in stressful times
- Ploidy level predicts differences in minimum leaf conductance in quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides
- Nuclear vs. plastid data: complex Pleistocene history of a circumpolar key species
- Phylogenetic relationships and the identification of allopolyploidy in circumpolar Silene sect. Physolychnis
- Investigating historical drivers of latitudinal gradients in polyploid plant biogeography: A multiclade perspective
- Ancient reindeer mitogenomes reveal island-hopping colonisation of the Arctic archipelagos
- Refugia, differentiation and postglacial migration in arctic‐alpine Eurasia, exemplified by the mountain avens (Dryas octopetala L.)
- Polyploidy linked with species richness but not diversification rates or niche breadth in Australian Pomaderreae (Rhamnaceae)
- Genome sizes and genomic guanine+cytosine (GC) contents of the Czech vascular flora with new estimates for 1700 species
- Climate predicts disjunct arctic-alpine plant species richness and abundance along Lake Superior shorelines better than local habitat
- Evolution of Portulacineae marked by gene tree conflict and gene family expansion associated with adaptation to harsh environments
- Eukaryote hybrid genomes
- Widespread ancient whole‐genome duplications in Malpighiales coincide with Eocene global climatic upheaval
- Taxonomy and Biogeography of Apomixis in Angiosperms and Associated Biodiversity Characteristics
- The advantages and disadvantages of being polyploid
- Polyploidy in the Olive Complex (Olea europaea): Evidence from Flow Cytometry and Nuclear Microsatellite Analyses
- ‘Why polyploidy is rarer in animals than in plants’: myths and mechanisms
- The Evolutionary Consequences of Polyploidy
- Recent autopolyploidization in a naturalized population of Mimulus guttatus (Phrymaceae)
- Ecological studies of polyploidy in the 100 years following its discovery
- The evolutionary history of the Arabidopsis lyrata complex: a hybrid in the amphi-Beringian area closes a large distribution gap and builds up a genetic barrier. [europepmc]
- Polyploid genome of Camelina sativa revealed by isolation of fatty acid synthesis genes. [europepmc]
- Correlated evolution of LTR retrotransposons and genome size in the genus Eleocharis. [europepmc]
- Polyploid evolution and Pleistocene glacial cycles: A case study from the alpine primrose Primula marginata (Primulaceae). [europepmc]
- Evolutionary diversifications of plants on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. [europepmc]
- Genomics of homoploid hybrid speciation: diversity and transcriptional activity of long terminal repeat retrotransposons in hybrid sunflowers. [europepmc]
- Polyploidy and novelty: Gottlieb's legacy. [europepmc]
- Ecological studies of polyploidy in the 100 years following its discovery. [europepmc]
- Tangled up in two: a burst of genome duplications at the end of the Cretaceous and the consequences for plant evolution. [europepmc]
- Genome and transcriptome sequencing identifies breeding targets in the orphan crop tef (Eragrostis tef). [europepmc]
- Polyploidy can Confer Superiority to West African Acacia senegal (L.) Willd. Trees. [europepmc]
- What does the geography of parthenogenesis teach us about sex? [europepmc]
- Parental legacy, demography, and admixture influenced the evolution of the two subgenomes of the tetraploid Capsella bursa-pastoris (Brassicaceae). [europepmc]
- Facing Climate Change: Biotechnology of Iconic Mediterranean Woody Crops. [europepmc]
- Eukaryote hybrid genomes. [europepmc]
- Relaxed purifying selection in autopolyploids drives transposable element over-accumulation which provides variants for local adaptation. [europepmc]
- Preferential gene retention increases the robustness of cold regulation in Brassicaceae and other plants after polyploidization. [europepmc]
- Insights Into Chloroplast Genome Evolution Across Opuntioideae (Cactaceae) Reveals Robust Yet Sometimes Conflicting Phylogenetic Topologies. [europepmc]
- Synthetic Polyploidy in Grafted Crops. [europepmc]
- Intricate Distribution Patterns of Six Cytotypes of Allium oleraceum at a Continental Scale: Niche Expansion and Innovation Followed by Niche Contraction With Increasing Ploidy Level. [europepmc]
- Postzygotic reproductive isolation established in the endosperm: mechanisms, drivers and relevance. [europepmc]
- Parallel adaptation in autopolyploid Arabidopsis arenosa is dominated by repeated recruitment of shared alleles. [europepmc]
- Specific Physiological and Anatomical Traits Associated With Polyploidy and Better Detoxification Processes Contribute to Improved Huanglongbing Tolerance of the Persian Lime Compared With the Mexican Lime. [europepmc]
- The Role of Interspecific Hybridisation in Adaptation and Speciation: Insights From Studies in Senecio . [europepmc]
- Diversification of flowering plants in space and time. [europepmc]
Related