What does allopolyploid mean?
An allopolyploid is an organism that carries more than two complete sets of chromosomes, with those sets originating from different species. Such organisms typically arise when two related species hybridize and their sterile offspring undergo chromosome doubling, restoring fertility while permanently uniting the parental genomes. Allopolyploidy is a major force in plant evolution: many important crops, including bread wheat, cotton, and tobacco, are allopolyploids, and their formation can instantaneously create new reproductively isolated species. The term belongs chiefly to genetics and botany and contrasts with 'autopolyploid', in which all chromosome sets derive from a single species. Understanding allopolyploids helps scientists explain crop origins, study genome evolution, and breed improved varieties by exploiting the genetic diversity locked within these merged genomes.
nounA polyploid organism whose multiple sets of chromosomes are derived from two or more different species, typically arising through hybridization followed by chromosome doubling.
- (genetics) An organism or cell possessing chromosome sets derived from two or more distinct species, resulting from interspecific hybridization combined with genome doubling.
"Wheat is a classic allopolyploid, combining ancestral genomes from three different grass species."
"Cotton arose as an allopolyploid combining genomes from Old World and New World ancestors."
"Researchers traced the allopolyploid origin of tobacco to a cross between two wild Nicotiana species."
Regular plural; used when referring to multiple such organisms or species collectively.
"Many of the world's major crops are allopolyploids."
The bread on your table exists only because of an allopolyploid event: modern wheat is the product of ancient natural hybrids between three different grass species.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of allopolyploid
The word combines the Greek-derived elements 'allo-' (from 'allos', meaning 'other' or 'different') with 'polyploid', which itself joins Greek 'poly-' ('many') with '-ploid', a suffix based on Greek 'eides' meaning 'form' or 'set'. The terminology was coined in the early twentieth century as cytogeneticists began counting chromosomes in hybrids and recognized that some polyploids contained genomes of mixed specific origin. Its cognates include the wider family of ploidy terms such as haploid, diploid, and polyploid.
Related word forms
How allopolyploid is actually used
Strictly technical vocabulary used in genetics, botany, and evolutionary biology; it rarely appears outside scientific literature. As an adjective, it can modify nouns directly (e.g., 'an allopolyploid species'), and the abstract noun 'allopolyploidy' refers to the phenomenon itself.
Easily confused with allopolyploid
An autopolyploid has multiple chromosome sets all derived from the same species, whereas an allopolyploid's sets come from different species.
Polyploid is the general term for any organism with more than two complete chromosome sets, while allopolyploid specifies that those sets originated from different species.