Abstract
DNA endoreduplication and related phenomena (such as endomitosis, polyteny, nuclear restitution and somatic polyploidy in general) are widespread over the animal and plant kingdoms, although they occur most frequently among insects and angiosperms1–3. The systematic restriction to certain phyla and species has been interpreted in terms of high genetic control of such events3, whereas the characteristic developmental pattern of various degrees of endopolyploidy has been considered as an expression of their functional role in differentiation and synthesising capacity of the cells2,4,5. Recently,however, any role of endoreduplication in cell differentiation has been questioned because of the existence of species apparently lacking endopolyploidy6. All previous discussions on endoreduplication, endopolyploidy and polyteny have, however, ignored the basic DNA contents of the species studied. We here report a relationship between the basic nuclear DNA content and the occurrence and degree of endopolyploidy. This strongly suggests that DNA endoreduplication can be regarded as an evolutionary alternative to the high nuclear DNA content that has been achieved in other species mainly by ‘saltatory replications’.
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NAGL, W. DNA endoreduplication and polyteny understood as evolutionary strategies. Nature 261, 614–615 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261614a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261614a0
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