The development of an Arabidopsis model system for genome-wide analysis of polyploidy effects.

Arabidopsis is a model system not only for studying numerous aspects of plant biology, but also for understanding mechanisms of the rapid evolutionary process associated with genome duplication and polyploidization. Although in animals interspecific hybrids are often sterile and aneuploids are related to disease syndromes, both Arabidopsis autopolyploids and allopolyploids occur in nature and can be readily formed in the laboratory, providing an attractive system for comparing changes in gene expression and genome structure among relatively 'young' and 'established' or 'ancient' polyploids. Powerful reverse and forward genetics in Arabidopsis offer an exceptional means by which regulatory mechanisms of gene and genome duplication may be revealed.