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Adaptive evolution of polyploid crops.

Peilin Wang·Chenhui Li·Dongjiao Wang·Tingting Sun·Qibin Wu·Jonathan F Wendel·Youxiong Que
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Abstract

Crop evolution represents a fundamental biological process through which plants respond to selection in different environments. This encompasses mechanisms operating at multiple scales of biological organization, including genetic and epigenetic regulation and higher-order interactions among molecular complexes. This Review synthesizes how polyploidy shapes crop evolution by generating duplicated genes, driving genome reorganization, altering dosage relationships and promoting regulatory divergence, which together influence crop metabolism, physiology, development and environmental responses. We focus mainly on the mechanisms underlying adaptation in polyploid crops, including the consequences of gene and genome duplication, genome reorganization and subfunctionalization. We also examine how hybridization, phenotypic plasticity and crop-microbiome interactions intersect with polyploidy to expand or constrain adaptive potential. Together, these processes affect crop survival, fitness and breeding value under changing environments. We suggest that future research connect polyploid genome architecture with experimentally validated signatures of selection and field performance to make better use of polyploidy-derived variation in crop improvement.

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PolyploidyCrops, AgriculturalGenome, PlantEvolution, MolecularGene DuplicationSelection, GeneticBiological EvolutionAdaptation, PhysiologicalEpigenesis, GeneticJournal ArticleReview

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Peilin Wang, Chenhui Li, Dongjiao Wang, Tingting Sun, Qibin Wu, Jonathan F Wendel, Youxiong Que. 2026-08-19. Adaptive evolution of polyploid crops.. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-026-02707-7

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