TekapoA tiny New Zealand snail recently doubled its entire genome.
Every gene now has a spare copy free to experiment with new functions.
The duplication also doubles chromosome-pairing errors each division, killing off most lineages that attempt it.
Researchers are tracking which duplicated lineages, like this Lake Alexandrina snail, survive the gamble.
How each outlet framed it
- Quanta Magazine
- reveals polyploidy as usually-fatal but when stabilized, genome duplication triggers rapid evolutionary innovation in the snail
Sources: Quanta Magazine