Role of Polyploidy in the Evolution of Fishes

• DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4613-3069-1_17
• Publication Date: 2011-10-20T11:42:02Z
• Authors: R. Jack Schultz
• Keywords: Polyploid

Polyploidy is not generally believed to have played a major role in the evolution of animals. This view has been fostered principally by G. L. Stebbins and M. J. D. White, both of whom as early as the 1940’s advocated that Polyploidy at best has played a secondary role in evolution; neither of them has substantially altered this view in recent years (1,2). Some of the arguments against the importance of Polyploidy are: (a) that the large amount of gene duplication in polyploids dilutes the effects of new mutations so significant adaptive changes are unlikely, (b) that Polyploidy in animals is restricted mainly to asexual forms which are evolutionary dead ends, and (c) the number of polyploid animals relative to diploids is small.