Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Manipulation of Ploidy in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: March 15, 2018
Making a functional diploid: from polysomic to disomic inheritance
S C Le Comber1, M L Ainouche, A Kovarik
1Queen Mary University of London, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, London E1 4NS, UK.
Abstract:
One little understood feature of polyploid speciation is the transition from polysomic to disomic inheritance, and much recent attention has focused on the role of pairing genes in this process. Using computer simulations we studied the effects of mutations, chromosomal inversions, chiasma, neofunctionalization, subfunctionalization and selection on the evolution of disomic inheritance in a polyploid over 10 000 generations. We show that: the evolution of pairing genes is not essential for the establishment of disomic inheritance, as genetic drift, coupled with a threshold for homologue pairing fidelity, is sufficient to explain the transition from polysomic to disomic inheritance; high rates of recombination increase the number of generations required for disomic inheritance to become established; both neofunctionalization and subfunctionalization speed up the transition to disomic inheritance. The data suggest that during polyploid species establishment, selection will favour reduced chiasma number and/or more focused distribution. The data also suggest a new role for subfunctionalization in that it can drive disomic inheritance. The evolution of subfunctionalization in genes across the genome will then act to maintain genes in syntenic blocks and may explain why such regions are so highly conserved.
Related Concept Videos
Crossing Over
The homologous pairs of sister chromosomes—one from the maternal and one from the paternal genome—then begin to align alongside each other lengthwise, matching corresponding DNA positions in a process called synapsis.
In order to...
Crossing Over
Nondisjunction
Nondisjunction
Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
Meiosis I

