Genome duplication drives evolution of species | Timothy Paape and Kentaro Shimizu

The plant species Arabidopsis kamchatica, which belongs to the rockcress genus, originated from the combination of two species. Credit: Lucas Mohn, UZH

Sept. 25, 2018 (Phys.org) -- Many wild and cultivated plants arise through the combination of two species. The genome of these so-called polyploid species often consists of a quadruple set of chromosomes -- a double set for each parental species -- and thus has about twice as many genes as the original species. About 50 years ago, evolutionary biologists postulated that this process drives evolution, leading to new species.

Due to the size and complexity of such genomes, however, proving this theory on a genetic level has been difficult.

An international team of researchers headed up by Timothy Paape and Kentaro Shimizu from the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies of the University of Zurich (UZH) has now provided the experimental confirmation of this theory.

To do so, the scientists from Switzerland and Japan used plant species Arabidopsis kamchatica, which is part of the rockcress genus. They sequenced the genomes of 25 individuals of the polyploid species from around the world, as well as 18 individuals of its parental species in order to study its natural genetic diversity.

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