Flowering plants undergo 132 genome duplications in nine bursts over 150 million years
Updated
Updated · Livescience.com · May 8
Flowering plants undergo 132 genome duplications in nine bursts over 150 million years
4 articles · Updated · Livescience.com · May 8
In a Cell study, scientists analysed 470 angiosperm genomes and dated the events using fossil evidence.
They found duplication bursts aligned with major geological upheavals, including global cooling, warming and extinction events, supporting the idea that polyploid plants survive stress better than their diploid relatives.
Researchers say the findings could help explain crop resilience and suggest climate change may favour new polyploid plants, though evolutionary effects would take millions of years to become clear.
As climate change intensifies, are plants secretly rewriting their DNA to survive our world?
Can we copy nature's ancient survival trick to build the climate-proof crops of tomorrow?
132 Genome Duplications Drove Flowering Plant Survival Through 150 Million Years of Environmental Crises
Overview
A recent study published in Cell reveals that flowering plants have survived and thrived through Earth's crises by duplicating their entire genomes, a process called polyploidy. Over the past 150 million years, researchers found 132 independent whole-genome duplication events in angiosperms. This genomic 'hyper-flexibility' gives plants extra copies of genes, providing a survival advantage during mass extinctions and rapid climate changes. By duplicating their genomes, flowering plants gained the ability to adapt quickly to new conditions, making polyploidy a key factor in their evolutionary success and resilience.