Polyploidy

By
M.VINNY THERISSA
Asst.Professor
Aditya college of Pharmacy
• Polyploids are plants/organisms with multiple sets of chromosomes
in excess of the diploid number.
• Polyploidy is the state of a cell or organism having more than two
paired (homologous) sets of chromosomes.
• Polyploidy has also been known to arise from polyembryonic
seeds (Webber 1940).
• Polyploidy is common in nature and provides a major mechanism
for adaptation and speciation.
• Approximately 50-70% of angiosperms, which include many crop
plants, have undergone polyploidy during their evolutionary
process.
• Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid,
meaning they have two sets of chromosomes—one set inherited
from each parent.
Classification of polyploids

 Based on their chromosomalcomposition

1. Euploids

2. Aneuploids.

 Euploids constitute the majority ofpolyploids

Euploidy
• They are polyploids with multiples of the complete
set of chromosomes specific to a species.
• Depending on the composition of the genome,
euploids can be further classified into
1. Autopolyploids
2. Allopolyploids
Autopolyploids

 Containing of multiple copies of the basic set

(x) of chromosomes of the same genome.
• Occurs in nature through union of unreduced
gametes.
• Natural autoploids include tetraploid crops such as
alfafa, peanut, potato and coffee and triploid
bananas.
Allopolyploids
• A combination of genomes from different species.
• They result from hybridization of two or more
genomes followed by chromosome doubling or by
the fusion of unreduced gametes between species .
• This mechanism is called non-disjunction . These
meiotic aberrances result in plants with reduced
vigor.
• Economically important natural alloploid crops
include strawberry, wheat, oat, upland cotton,
oilseed rape, blueberry and mustard.
ANEUPLOIDY
 Aneuploids are polyploids that contain either an addition or subtraction of
one or more specific chromosome(s) to the total number of chromosomes
that usually make up the ploidy of a species.

• Aneuploids result from the formation of univalents and multivalents

during meiosis of euploids .

• With no mechanism of dividing univalents equally among daughter cells

during anaphase I, some cells inherit more genetic material than others .

• Similarly, multivalents such as homologous chromosomes may fail to

separate during meiosis leading to unequal migration of chromosomes to
opposite poles.
• It is necessary to eliminate duplicated genes in a newly
formed polyploid to avoid gene silencing as well as to
stabilize fertility
• The increase in nuclear ploidy affects the structural and
anatomical characteristics of the plant.
• Polyploidy results in increased leaf and flower size ,
stomatal density, cell size and chloroplast count.
 Hybrid vigor resulting from interspecific crosses
in allopolyploids is one of the most exploited
advantages of polyploid in plant breeding.
 A comparison between the leaf and flower of a
(A) diploid and (B) induced tetraploid
watermelon
Applications in polyploids
• Mutation breeding
• Seedless fruits
• Bridge crossing
• Ornamental and forage
breeding
• Disease resistance
through aneuploidy
• Industrial applications of
polyploidy
1 .Mutation breeding
• Mutation tolerance in polyploid crop improvement in two ways.
1. polyploids are able to tolerate deleterious allele modifications post-
mutation, and
2. they have increased mutation frequency because of their large genomes
resulting from duplicated condition of their genes .
• The high mutation frequencies observed with polyploids may be exploited
when trying to induce mutations in diploid cultivars that do not produce
enough genetic variation after a mutagenic treatment.
• This approach has been used in mutation breeding of Achimenes sp. (nut
orchids) by first forming autotetraploids through colchicine treatment
followed by the application of fast neutrons and X-rays.
• In this study, the autotetraploids were found to have 20-40 times higher
mutation frequency than the corresponding diploid cultivar due to the
large genome (Broertjes, 1976).
2 .Seedless fruits production
3.Bridge crossing
• Utilize the reproductive superiority of polyploids .

• When sexual incompatibilities between two species are due to ploidy levels,
transitional crosses can be carried out followed by chromosome doubling to
produce fertile bridge hybrids.

• This method has been used to breed for superior tall fescue grass (F.
arundinacea) from Italian ryegrass (2n=2x=14) and tall fescue
(2n=6x=42) by using meadow grass (Fescue pratensis) as a bridge
species .

• The same principle has been applied in fixing heterozygosity in hybrids by

doubling the chromosomes in the superior progeny
4 .Ornamental and forage breeding

• Polyploidy in plants is an increase in cell size

which in turn leads to enlarged plant organs.
• This phenomenon termed as gigas effect .

 The increase in cell volume however is mainly

attributed to increased water and not biomass.
 Although chromosome doubling may result in
significantly larger seeds and increased seed-
protein content in cereal crops, this advantage is
offset by low seed set .
• Ornamental crops such as snapdragons and marigolds
have been bred through chromosome doubling to
improve the quality and size of their blossoms.

• The slower growth rate of polyploids

allows them to flower later and for a
longer period of time than their diploid
progenitors . This quality may be of
interest especially in ornamental
breeding.
5 .Disease resistance through
aneuploidy
• Aneuploidy applied in breeding to develop
disease resistant plants through the
addition of an extra chromosome into the
progeny genome.
• Ex -: The transfer of leaf rust resistance to Tricum
aestivum from Aegilops umbellulata through
backcrossing.
• In addition, other breeding strategies utilizing
aneuploidy have been explored including
chromosome deletion, chromosome substitution
and supernumerary chromosomes
6 .Industrial applications of polyploidy

• Commercial synthesis of sex hormones and

corticosteroids has been improved significantly by
artificial induction of tetraploids from diploid
Dioscorea zingiberensis, native to China.
• Other plants whose production of terpenes has
increased following artificial chromosome doubling.
• It enhances production of secondary metabolites such
as alkaloids and terpenes in polyploids may
concurrently offer resistance to pests and pathogens.
Advantages of polyploids
• Enlargement and Increased Vigor
• Creation of Sterile Triploids
• Restoring Fertility in Hybrids
• Overcoming Barriers in Hybridization
• Enhancing Pest Resistance and Stress
Tolerance
Drawbacks of polyploids
 Sometimes, resulting plants could be undesirable or
unstable
 Effect of polyploidy on sterility
 Effect of polyploidy on inheritance and population
genetics