Polyploidy is observed across the tree of life, yet its influence on evolution remains incompletely understood1–4. Polyploidy, usually whole genome duplication (WGD), is proposed to alter the rate of evolutionary adaptation. This could occur through complex effects on the frequency or fitness of beneficial mutations 2,5–7. For example, in diverse cell types and organisms, immediately after a WGD, newly formed polyploids missegregate chromosomes and undergo genetic instability8–13. The instability following WGDs is thought to provide adaptive mutations in microorganisms13,14 and can promote tumorigenesis in mammalian cells11,15. Polyploidy may also affect adaptation independent of beneficial mutations through ploidy-specific changes in cell physiology16. Here, we performed in vitro evolution experiments to directly test whether polyploidy can accelerate evolutionary adaptation. Compared to haploids and diploids, tetraploids underwent significantly faster adaptation. Mathematical modeling suggested that rapid adaptation of tetraploids was driven by higher rates of beneficial mutations with stronger fitness effects, which was supported by whole-genome sequencing and phenotypic analyses of evolved clones. Chromosome aneuploidy, concerted chromosome loss, and point mutations all provided large fitness gains. We identified several mutations whose beneficial effects were manifest specifically in the tetraploid strains. Together, these results provide direct quantitative evidence that in some environments polyploidy can accelerate evolutionary adaptation.

Cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-enclosed structures of highly variable size. EVs contain a myriad of substances (proteins, lipid, RNA, DNA) that provide a reservoir of circulating molecules, thus offering a good source of biomarkers. We demonstrate here that large EVs (L-EV) (large oncosomes) isolated from prostate cancer (PCa) cells and patient plasma are an EV population that is enriched in chromosomal DNA, including large fragments up to 2 million base pair long. While L-EVs and small EVs (S-EV) (exosomes) isolated from the same cells contained similar amounts of protein, the DNA was more abundant in L-EV, despite S-EVs being more numerous. Consistent with in vitro observations, the abundance of DNA in L-EV obtained from PCa patient plasma was variable but frequently high. Conversely, negligible amounts of DNA were present in the S-EVs from the same patients. Controlled experimental conditions, with spike-ins of L-EVs and S-EVs from cancer cells in human plasma from healthy subjects, showed that circulating DNA is almost exclusively enclosed in L-EVs. Whole genome sequencing revealed that the DNA in L-EVs reflects genetic aberrations of the cell of origin, including copy number variations of genes frequently altered in metastatic PCa (i.e. MYC, AKT1, PTK2, KLF10 and PTEN). These results demonstrate that L-EV-derived DNA reflects the genomic make-up of the tumour of origin. They also support the conclusion that L-EVs are the fraction of plasma EVs with DNA content that should be interrogated for tumour-derived genomic alterations.