Kirsten Bomblies: A problem of plenty – how one polyploid evolved to perform meiosis with a duplicated genome

Polyploids, which arise from whole genome duplication, have contributed to genome complexity in all eukaryotic lineages. New polyploids are often broadly resistant to abiotic stresses and are thus a promising tool for agriculture. But evolutionary conundrums and practical roadblocks remain, as neopolyploids often have extremely low fertility. Part of the problem for their fertility is the challenge of segregating multiple copies of each chromosome, since the “rules” of meiosis seem to have evolved to optimize segregating pairs of chromosomes. We previously used a genome scan for selection to identify genes specifically targeted by selection after whole genome duplication in Arabidopsis arenosa, a wild outcrossing relative of A. thaliana. This scan showed numerous meiosis genes were targets of selection. Since then we have been working to understand how changing these particular proteins might stabilize meiosis, and what we can learn from this about what the challenges facing polyploids are.