Wednesday, 7 March 2018

For green toads, species with multiple genomes have ancestors that are only distantly related



Date:  February 20, 2018
Source:  Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Summary:
Most vertebrates have two sets of chromosomes, one from their mother and one from their father – including humans who are thus diploid. In contrast, polyploidy, meaning to possess three or more sets of chromosomes is very rare in animals. To find out how new vertebrate species have evolved, and, more generally, how the current biodiversity emerged, evolutionary biologists are studying green toads (Bufo viridis) – an excellent model system for studying various evolutionary processes, because they can be diploid or polyploid.


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