Polyploidization contributes to the forms, heights, and species richness of plants
Abstract
Whether plant life form influences the long-term persistence of polyploid lineages remains an important unresolved question in plant evolution. Previous studies have suggested that perennial herbaceous plants harbor higher proportions of neo-polyploids, yet comprehensive phylogenetic validation across paleopolyploid lineages using genomic data remains limited. The rapid accumulation of plant genome sequences, particularly from horticultural and agricultural species, provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the evolutionary relationships among polyploidization, plant growth form, and plant stature across seed plants. Here, we analyzed 351 seed plant genomes, including major cereals, vegetables, fruits, and their wild relatives, to investigate the long-term evolutionary associations between paleopolyploidization and plant phenotypic diversity. Phylogenetically informed comparative analyses showed that lineages experiencing more paleopolyploidization events were significantly more likely to exhibit herbaceous rather than woody growth forms. We further found that paleopolyploidization frequency was negatively associated with plant height across seed plants after accounting for phylogenetic relatedness. In addition, evolutionary rates, estimated using synonymous substitution rates (Ks), were associated with paleopolyploidization, plant growth form, and species richness. Herbaceous species exhibited higher Ks values than woody and vine species, and plant families with higher evolutionary rates tended to contain more species. Together, these findings provide a phylogenetically informed evidence that paleopolyploidization is closely associated with plant growth form, plant stature, and evolutionary rate, offering new insights into the long-term evolutionary consequences of genome duplication in seed plants.
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BibTeX
@article{wang2026polyploidization,
title = {{Polyploidization contributes to the forms, heights, and species richness of plants}},
author = {Jiangli Wang and Yao Wang and Chenxi Wang and Huilong Qi and Tianmeng Wang and Huizhe Zhang and Xiaochang Xu and Yuelong Jia and Fubo Hu and Bowen Song and Minran Yang and Song Ge and Tariq Shehzad and Andrew H Paterson and Xiyin Wang},
journal = {Horticulture research},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1093/hr/uhag223},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13722872},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Polyploidization contributes to the forms, heights, and species richness of plants
AU - Jiangli Wang
AU - Yao Wang
AU - Chenxi Wang
AU - Huilong Qi
AU - Tianmeng Wang
AU - Huizhe Zhang
AU - Xiaochang Xu
AU - Yuelong Jia
AU - Fubo Hu
AU - Bowen Song
AU - Minran Yang
AU - Song Ge
AU - Tariq Shehzad
AU - Andrew H Paterson
AU - Xiyin Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/11
JO - Horticulture research
DO - 10.1093/hr/uhag223
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13722872
AB - Whether plant life form influences the long-term persistence of polyploid lineages remains an important unresolved question in plant evolution. Previous studies have suggested that perennial herbaceous plants harbor higher proportions of neo-polyploids, yet comprehensive phylogenetic validation across paleopolyploid lineages using genomic data remains limited. The rapid accumulation of plant genome sequences, particularly from horticultural and agricultural species, provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the evolutionary relationships among polyploidization, plant growth form, and plant stature across seed plants. Here, we analyzed 351 seed plant genomes, including major cereals, vegetables, fruits, and their wild relatives, to investigate the long-term evolutionary associations between paleopolyploidization and plant phenotypic diversity. Phylogenetically informed comparative analyses showed that lineages experiencing more paleopolyploidization events were significantly more likely to exhibit herbaceous rather than woody growth forms. We further found that paleopolyploidization frequency was negatively associated with plant height across seed plants after accounting for phylogenetic relatedness. In addition, evolutionary rates, estimated using synonymous substitution rates (Ks), were associated with paleopolyploidization, plant growth form, and species richness. Herbaceous species exhibited higher Ks values than woody and vine species, and plant families with higher evolutionary rates tended to contain more species. Together, these findings provide a phylogenetically informed evidence that paleopolyploidization is closely associated with plant growth form, plant stature, and evolutionary rate, offering new insights into the long-term evolutionary consequences of genome duplication in seed plants.
SN - 2662-6810
SN - 2052-7276
ER -