Projects per year
Abstract
Polyploidy has the potential to allow organisms to outcompete their diploid progenitor(s) and occupy new environments. Shark Bay, Western Australia, is a World Heritage Area dominated by temperate seagrass meadows including Poseidon's ribbon weed, Posidonia australis. This seagrass is at the northern extent of its natural geographic range and experiences extremes in temperature and salinity. Our genomic and cytogenetic assessments of 10 meadows identified geographically restricted, diploid clones (2n = 20) in a single location, and a single widespread, high-heterozygosity, polyploid clone (2n = 40) in all other locations. The polyploid clone spanned at least 180 km, making it the largest known example of a clone in any environment on earth. Whole-genome duplication through polyploidy, combined with clonality, may have provided the mechanism for P. australis to expand into new habitats and adapt to new environments that became increasingly stressful for its diploid progenitor(s). The new polyploid clone probably formed in shallow waters after the inundation of Shark Bay less than 8500 years ago and subsequently expanded via vegetative growth into newly submerged habitats.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 20220538 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Proceedings. Biological sciences |
Volume | 289 |
Issue number | 1976 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 Jun 2022 |
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Dive into the research topics of 'Extensive polyploid clonality was a successful strategy for seagrass to expand into a newly submerged environment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 3 Finished
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The Life and Death Of Plant Genes
Bayer, P. (Chief Investigator)
ARC Australian Research Council
1/01/21 → 31/12/23
Project: Research
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Saving seagrass from climate change
Kendrick, G. (Investigator 01), Breed, M. (Investigator 02) & Krauss, S. (Investigator 03)
ARC Australian Research Council
1/01/21 → 31/12/24
Project: Research
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Seagrass adaptation, extreme events, synergistic stress and climate change
Kendrick, G. (Investigator 01), Breed, M. (Investigator 02), Krauss, S. (Investigator 03) & Lai, J. (Investigator 04)
ARC Australian Research Council
1/01/18 → 1/07/21
Project: Research
Press/Media
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World's biggest plant discovered off Australian coast
1/06/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media