>Hello,
>>I am going over some evolutionary theory in my plant bio class, and it
>occurred to me that, although I know that polyploidy occurs much more
>often in plant speciation events than in animals, I do not know *why* this
>is true. Is it a quality of the plant genome itself, or a result of
>products similar to colchicine (that can prevent reduction-division during
>meiosis) being more common in plant cells, or because of some other
>factor?
>>Any leads (citations, etc.) on this topic would be appreciated!
>>Thanks,
>Dana
>
Dana,
I've always assumed it was simply that animals do not tolerate aneuploidy
and wind up dead. That leaves the question of why plants can tolerate it
and animals can't. I've often wondered about that.
Dr. Gary Coté
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Box 6931
Radford University
Radford, VA 24142-6931
Ph: 540-831-5630
Fax: 540-831-6615
email: gcote at runet.eduhttp://www.runet.edu:8800/~gcote/
