Summary Whole genome duplication (WGD) likely plays an important role in plant macroevolution, and has been implicated in diversification rate shifts, structural innovations, and increased disparity. But the general effects of WGD are challenging to evaluate, in part due to the difficulty of directly comparing morphological patterns across disparate clades. We explored relationships between WGD and the evolution of reproductive complexity across vascular plants using a metric based on the number of reproductive part types. We used multiple regression models to evaluate the relative importance of inferred WGD events, genome size, and a suite of additional variables relating to growth habit and reproductive biology in explaining part type complexity. WGD was a consistent predictor of reproductive complexity only among angiosperms. Across vascular plants generally, reproductive biology, clade identity, and the presence of bisexual strobili (those that produce microsporangiate and megasporangiate organs) were better predictors of complexity. Angiosperms are unique among vascular plants in combining frequent polyploidy with high‐reproductive complexity. Whether WGD is mechanistically linked to floral complexity is unclear, but we suggest widespread polyploidy and increased complexity were ultimately facilitated by the evolution of herbaceous growth habits in early angiosperms.

中文翻译：

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维管植物生殖复杂性与被子植物独特性的基因组相关性


摘要 全基因组复制 （WGD） 可能在植物宏观进化中起重要作用，并与多样化速率变化、结构创新和差异增加有关。但 WGD 的一般影响很难评估，部分原因是难以直接比较不同分支的形态模式。我们使用基于生殖部分类型数量的指标探讨了 WGD 与维管植物生殖复杂性演变之间的关系。我们使用多元回归模型来评估推断的 WGD 事件、基因组大小以及一组与生长习性和生殖生物学相关的其他变量在解释部分类型复杂性方面的相对重要性。WGD 仅在被子植物中是生殖复杂性的一致预测因子。一般来说，在维管植物中，生殖生物学、进化枝身份和双性 strobili（产生小孢子囊和大孢子囊器官的那些）的存在是复杂性的更好预测指标。被子植物在维管植物中是独一无二的，它结合了频繁的多倍体和高生殖复杂性。WGD 是否与花的复杂性在机制上相关尚不清楚，但我们认为早期被子植物草本生长习性的进化最终促进了广泛的多倍体和复杂性的增加。