Polyploidy – A tool in adapting trees to future climate changes? A review of polyploidy in trees

Anders Ræbild*, Kesara Anamthawat-Jónsson, Ulrika Egertsdotter, Juha Immanen, Anna Monrad Jensen, Athina Koutouleas, Helle Jakobe Martens, Kaisa Nieminen, Jill Katharina Olofsson, Anna Catharina Röper, Jarkko Salojärvi, Martina Strömvik, Mohammad Vatanparast, Adam Vivian-Smith

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Polyploidy, or genome doubling, has occurred repeatedly through plant evolution. While polyploid plants are used extensively in agriculture and horticulture, they have so far found limited use in forestry. Here we review the potentials of polyploid trees under climate change, and investigate if there is support for increased use. We find that polyploid trees like other plants have consistent increases in cell sizes compared to diploids, and that leaf-area based rates of photosynthesis tend to increase with increasing levels of ploidy. While no particular trend could be discerned in terms of biomass between trees of different ploidy levels, physiology is affected by polyploidization and several studies point towards a high potential for polyploid trees to adapt to drought stress. The ploidy level of most tree species is unknown, and analysis of geographical patterns in frequencies of polyploid trees are inconclusive. Artificial polyploid trees are often created by colchicine and in a few cases these have been successfully applied in forestry, but the effects of induced polyploidization in many economically important tree species remains untested. Polyploids would also be increasingly useful in tree breeding programs, to create synthetic hybrids or sterile triploids that could control unwanted spreading of germplasm in nature. In conclusion, this review suggests that polyploid trees may be superior under climate change in some cases, but that the potential of polyploids is not yet fully known and should be evaluated on a case-to-case basis for different tree species.

Original languageEnglish
Article number121767
JournalForest Ecology and Management
Volume560
Number of pages14
ISSN0378-1127
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

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© 2024

Keywords

  • Adaptation
  • Ecophysiology
  • Fitness
  • Forestry
  • Tree breeding
  • Whole genome duplication (WGD)

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