Scientists uncover key mechanism in evolution: Whole-genome duplication drives
Scientists at Georgia Tech discovered that whole-genome duplication (WGD) in "snowflake" yeast can remain stable over thousands of generations, providing advantages for multicellularity and reshaping understanding of evolution.
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Scientists at Georgia Tech have made a significant discovery regarding whole-genome duplication (WGD) and its role in evolution. Initially investigating the transition of organisms to multicellularity, the researchers found that WGD not only occurs but can also remain stable over thousands of generations. Led by William Ratcliff and former Ph.D. student Kai Tong, the study revealed that WGD in "snowflake" yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) provided a competitive advantage by allowing the yeast to grow larger and form multicellular clusters. This stability, contrary to previous beliefs that tetraploidy is unstable, was observed in a long-term evolution experiment known as the Multicellular Long-Term Evolution Experiment (MuLTEE). The yeast underwent genome duplication early in the experiment and maintained this state for over 1,000 days, enabling genetic changes that contributed to multicellularity. The findings highlight the unexpected nature of scientific research, where significant insights often emerge serendipitously. This work not only enhances understanding of evolutionary processes but also opens avenues for future research on the implications of genome duplication in biological complexity.
- Whole-genome duplication (WGD) can persist over thousands of generations, contrary to previous beliefs about its instability.
- The study focused on "snowflake" yeast, which showed advantages in size and multicellularity due to WGD.
- The research was part of the Multicellular Long-Term Evolution Experiment (MuLTEE) at Georgia Tech.
- The findings emphasize the unpredictable nature of scientific discovery and its potential to reshape understanding of evolution.
- The study involved significant contributions from undergraduate students, highlighting the importance of hands-on research experience.
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8 commentsTong, K., Datta, S., Cheng, V. et al. Genome duplication in a long-term multicellularity evolution experiment. Nature 639, 691–699 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08689-6
"Gene duplications drive the recruitment of genes for secondary metabolism. Gene copies are gradually modified to create genes with specificities and expression patterns adapted to the needs of the new pathway in which they are involved. Duplicated genes are often in tandem repeats, forming clusters within the plant genome. However, in some cases, clusters of nonhomologous genes have also been identified as forming a functional unit. The selective forces that have caused the establishment of new pathways are far from understood and might have changed repeatedly during evolution owing to the continuously changing environment. Recent data show that the way several classes of secondary compounds are scattered among species is attributable to independent recruitment and the inactivation of biosynthetic enzymes."
https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/abstract/S1360-138...
If you want to understand secondary metabolites, which is not the "how" do they work part of plant-derived molecules, but the "why" do they work?
You can follow this line of research:
"Over recent years, the consensus as to the mechanisms responsible for these effects in humans has shifted away from polyphenols having direct antioxidant effects and toward their modulation of cellular signal transduction pathways. To date, little consideration has been given to the question of why, rather than how, these plant-derived chemicals might exert these effects. Therefore, this review summarizes the evidence suggesting that polyphenols beneficially affect human brain function and describes the current mechanistic hypotheses explaining these effects. It then goes on to describe the ecologic roles and potential endogenous signaling functions that these ubiquitous phytochemicals play within their home plant and discusses whether these functions drive their beneficial effects in humans via a process of “cross-kingdom” signaling predicated on the many conserved similarities in plant, microbial, and human cellular signal transduction pathways."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S216183132...
The functional aspect of the duplicated DNA goes back to the point that humans, insects, and plants are all eukaryotes...
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