LAUSR

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Whole genome duplication (WGD) is ubiquitous in plants. Recent reviews and meta-analyses, aiming to understand how such phenotypic transition could facilitate neopolyploid establishment, demonstrated multifarious immediate effects of WGD on fitness and reproductive traits. Yet little is known about how short-term modifications evolve through time. Such a comparison among neo- and established polyploid lineages is crucial to understand which effects of WGD promote or impede polyploid survival. METHODS We performed a meta-analysis to determine how WGD affects morphological, cellular and fitness traits in autotetraploid individuals compared to their diploid progenitors. We studied how established tetraploids differed from diploids compared to neo-tetraploids, to further learn about the fate of WGD-associated phenotypic effects during polyploid establishment. KEY RESULTS We found that the short-term effects of WGD were an increase in size of morphological traits and cells, accompanied by a decrease in fitness and the number of cells. After establishment, the morphological effect persisted, but cellular and fitness components reverted back to the values observed in the diploid ancestors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.