Join lecture – The Double-Edged Sword of Whole-Genome Duplication: Applying Evolutionary Insights to Crop Optimization – online or in person!
Whole‑genome duplication (WGD) is a double‑edged sword of evolution: it fuels bursts of innovation but can also confound the faithful segregation of chromosomes during meiosis. Learn more about it in the upcoming lecture by Levi Yant, Professor of Genetics at SLU.
Date: 27 November 2025
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Venue: Undervisning building, sal H, Ultuna campus - for those located on site there will be a fika extension until 14:30
Organiser: SLU Breeding Network
Location: Online, Uppsala
Levi's lab investigates how wild plants have balanced these opposing forces, revealing that some have evolved natural genetic solutions to stabilize fertility after within-species WGD (autopolyploidy). In wild Arabidopsis arenosa, Cochlearia, and related species, the lab has identified adaptive changes that rewire meiotic control, restoring stability and enabling long-term WGD-mediated success.
Building on these discoveries, the lab is extending this knowledge toward crops, to explore how the same principles that stabilize fertility in wild plants might unlock breeding potential in autopolyploid species such as potato. By combining cytology, pangenomics, and functional genetics, the lab's work aims to predict and enhance recombination stability. This could open the door to true-seed breeding, faster trait stacking, and more sustainable production.
This research bridges evolutionary genomics and plant breeding, showing how understanding the double-edged nature of WGD transform a long-standing biological constraint into a tool for crop innovation.
Speaker: Levi Yant