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Speciation via polyploidy: A diploid cell undergoes failed meiosis, producing diploid gametes, which self-fertilize to produce a tetraploid zygote. Polyploidy is frequent in plants, some estimates suggesting that 30–80% of living plant species are polyploid, and many lineages show evidence of ancient polyploidy (paleopolyploidy) in their genomes.
The extreme in polyploidy occurs in the fern genus Ophioglossum, the adder's-tongues, in which polyploidy results in chromosome counts in the hundreds, or, in at least one case, well over one thousand. [citation needed] It is possible for polyploid organisms to revert to lower ploidy by haploidisation. [citation needed]
Aneuploidy is the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell, for example a human somatic cell having 45 or 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. [1] [2] It does not include a difference of one or more complete sets of chromosomes. A cell with any number of complete chromosome sets is called a euploid cell. [1]
Polyploidy is also a well known source of speciation, as offspring, which have different numbers of chromosomes compared to parent species, are often unable to interbreed with non-polyploid organisms. Whole genome duplications are thought to be less detrimental than aneuploidy as the relative dosage of individual genes should be the same.
The results from polyploid and diploid cells should be identified and separately recorded from one another. This is because the fitness cost (survival to next generation) of chromosomal instability is lower in polyploid cells, as the cell has a greater number of chromosomes to make up for the chromosomal instability it experiences. [5]
[5] [6] Aneuploidy can be full, involving a whole chromosome missing or added, or partial, where only part of a chromosome is missing or added. [5] Aneuploidy can occur with sex chromosomes or autosomes. [citation needed] Rather than having monosomy, or only one copy, the majority of aneuploid people have trisomy, or three copies of one chromosome.
Polyploidy and aneuploidy are common phenomena in cancer cells. [6] Given that oncogenesis and endoreduplication likely involve subversion of common cell cycle regulatory mechanisms, a thorough understanding of endoreduplication may provide important insights for cancer biology.
Polyploidy in lower plants (ferns, horsetails and psilotales) is also common, and some species of ferns have reached levels of polyploidy far in excess of the highest levels known in flowering plants. Polyploidy in animals is much less common, but it has been significant in some groups.