Meirmans Patrick G, Kolář Filip
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1098XH, The Netherlands.
Department of Botany, Charles University of Prague, Prague 128 01, Czechia.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jun 17;122(24):e2424785122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2424785122. Epub 2025 Jun 12.
Polyploidization (whole-genome duplication, WGD) is a widespread large-effect macromutation with far-reaching genomic, phenotypic, and evolutionary consequences. Yet, we do not know whether the consistent phenotypic changes that are associated with polyploidization translate into predictable changes in ecological preferences. Niche modeling studies in mixed-ploidy species provide an opportunity to compare recently originated polyploids with their lower-ploidy ancestors. However, the available isolated studies provide contrasting results and the diverse methodologies used limit generalization. Based on 25,857 georeferenced ploidy-verified occurrence data for 129 mixed-ploidy flowering plant species, we tested in a unified statistical framework whether WGD is associated with consistent changes in climatic niche and in past, current, and predicted future range size. We found that 74% of species exhibited significant niche shifts associated with ploidy transition. However, there was no consistent environmental parameter underlying ploidy differentiation across species, nor was there consistent support for polyploid range or niche expansion in a subset of 75 densely sampled species with sufficient data for modeling. Our results demonstrate that polyploidization is an important factor affecting niche evolution of a species, but the environmental parameters underlying the ploidy-related niche shifts vary from species to species, demonstrating limited predictability of the outcomes of WGD in ecological space.
多倍体化（全基因组复制，WGD）是一种广泛存在的具有深远基因组、表型和进化后果的大效应宏观突变。然而，我们尚不清楚与多倍体化相关的一致表型变化是否会转化为生态偏好的可预测变化。对混倍体物种的生态位建模研究为比较最近起源的多倍体与其低倍体祖先提供了机会。然而，现有的孤立研究提供了相互矛盾的结果，且所使用的多样方法限制了研究结果的普遍性。基于129种混倍体开花植物物种的25857个经地理定位且倍性验证的出现数据，我们在一个统一的统计框架中测试了全基因组复制是否与气候生态位以及过去、当前和预测的未来分布范围大小的一致变化相关。我们发现，74%的物种表现出与倍性转变相关的显著生态位转移。然而，在物种间的倍性分化中没有一致的环境参数作为基础，对于75个有足够建模数据的密集采样物种的子集，也没有一致的证据支持多倍体分布范围或生态位扩张。我们的结果表明，多倍体化是影响物种生态位进化的一个重要因素，但与倍性相关的生态位转移所依据的环境参数因物种而异，这表明在生态空间中全基因组复制结果的可预测性有限。
