Polyploids increase overall diversity despite higher turnover than diploids in the Brassicaceae.

ABSTRACT: Although polyploidy is widespread across the plant Tree of Life, its long-term evolutionary significance is still poorly understood. Here, we examine the effects of polyploidy in explaining the large-scale evolutionary patterns within angiosperms by focusing on a single family exhibiting extensive interspecific variation in chromosome numbers. We inferred ploidy from haploid chromosome numbers for 80% of species in the most comprehensive species-level chronogram for the Brassicaceae. After evaluating a total of 94 phylogenetic models of diversification, we found that ploidy influences diversification rates across the Brassicaceae. We also found that despite diversifying at a similar rate to diploids, polyploids have played a significant role in driving present-day differences in species ri

SUBMITTER: Roman-Palacios C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7542780 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature