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 inquiryfrom 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.
Polyploidy: A Common Biological Phenomenon Lacking Cross-Disciplinary StudyPolyploidy [whole-genome duplication (WGD); see Glossary], defined as having three or more sets of chromosomes, influences organisms in all clades of eukaryotic life and all levels of biological organization, from genes to cells to entire ecosystems (Figure 1). The intersection of these axes of biodiversity and biological scale offers new opportunity for insight and research innovation. Yet, polyploidy remains underexplored in many contexts, and its roles and impact in biological processes and across phylogeny are unclear. This lack of clarity derives, in part, from very limited communication across disciplinary boundaries to identify common themes at different scales. The genomics era has accelerated research on polyploidy and provided a shared platform for dialogue and potential interdisciplinary synergy. We argue that cross-disciplinary approaches are crucial to identifying common functions and regulation of polyploidy.
HighlightsCommunication across disciplinary boundaries to identify common themes of polyploidy has been extremely limited.