What is a tetraploid expansion?

Question

I know that scientists manage to 'evolve' a new species of fireweed using tetraploid expansion, but what is it?

Answer 1

'Tetraploid' means that every cell has 4 copies of every chromosome.  This is common in plants, but very rare in animals.  We are 'diploid', meaning that we have 2 copies of every chromosome.  But our sperm and egg cells are 'haploid', which means that they have 1 copy of each chromosome.

'Expansion' means spread of a population.

So 'tetraploid expansion' means the spreading of a tetraploid population within a normally diploid population.   Or in a laboratory setting, it means inducing a tetraploid version of a plant, and then cultivating it so that the population 'expands.'    The two (the diploid and tetraploid versions of the same plant) are different 'species' in the sense that they do not polinate each other.

Answer 2

I don't know..