Defective pollen tube tip growth induces neo-polyploid infertility. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38422152/)

These scientists studied how plants called Arabidopsis arenosa, which have extra sets of chromosomes (polyploids), can have problems with making seeds. They found that when these plants are newly formed polyploids, their pollen tubes (which help plants reproduce) grow slowly and have some issues. The pollen tubes can burst too early and have different genes working compared to normal plants. However, as these polyploid plants evolve over time, they get better at growing healthy pollen tubes.

The scientists also discovered that certain genes related to pollen tube growth are really important for the plant's ability to make seeds. They found that in natural polyploid plants, these genes are selected to work well to help the plant reproduce successfully.

Overall, this study shows that newly formed polyploid plants can have trouble with fertility because of issues with their pollen tubes, but over time, they can evolve to overcome these challenges by changing how their genes work.

Westermann J., Srikant T., Gonzalo A., Tan HS., Bomblies K. Defective pollen tube tip growth induces neo-polyploid infertility. Science. 2024 Mar;383(6686):eadh0755. doi: 10.1126/science.adh0755. Epub 2024 Mar 1.