Data from: Recently-formed polyploid plants diversify at lower rates

Polyploidy, the doubling of genomic content, is a widespread feature, especially among plants, yet its macro-evolutionary impacts are contentious. Traditionally, polyploidy has been considered an evolutionary dead-end, whereas recent genomic studies suggest that polyploidy has been a key driver of macro-evolutionary success. Here we examine the consequences of polyploidy on the time scale of genera across a diverse set of vascular plants, encompassing hundreds of inferred polyploidization events. Likelihood-based analyses indicate that polyploids generally exhibit lower speciation rates and higher extinction rates than diploids, providing the first quantitative corroboration of the dead-end hypothesis. The increased speciation rates of diploids can, in part, be ascribed to their capacity to speciate via polyploidy. Only particularly “fit” lineages of polyploids may persist to enjoy longer term evolutionary success.

多倍体（Polyploidy）即基因组含量加倍，是一类广泛存在的生物学特征，尤其在植物界中分布普遍，但其宏观演化（macro-evolutionary）效应仍颇具争议。传统观点将多倍体视为演化死端，而近期基因组学研究则表明，多倍体是宏观演化成功的关键驱动因素。本研究以涵盖数百次推测多倍化（polyploidization）事件的多样维管植物（vascular plants）类群为研究对象，探讨多倍体在属级时间尺度上的演化后果。基于似然法（likelihood-based）的分析结果显示，与二倍体（diploids）相比，多倍体通常具有更低的物种形成速率（speciation rates）与更高的灭绝速率（extinction rates），这首次从定量层面佐证了演化死端假说（dead-end hypothesis）。二倍体较高的物种形成速率，在一定程度上可归因于其具备通过多倍化途径形成新物种的能力。仅少数具备特别"fit"的多倍体谱系，方能存续并获得长期的演化成功。