Polyploidy as a Fundamental Phenomenon in Biology Diagrams One use of polyploidy is to generate large cells, such as mammalian megakaryocytes or the giant cells that contribute to the structure of organs such as Arabidopsis leaves. It has been appreciated since late in the 19 th century that cell size is proportional to nuclear size, and this was subsequently shown to reflect DNA content. Thus, both polyploid and polytene cells are of increased size Cell Cycle Variants Yielding Polyploid Cells. (A) The archetypal cell cycle responsible for cell proliferation contains a G1 phase during which sufficient cell growth must occur prior to the onset of DNA replication in S phase. Another gap phase (G2) precedes mitosis and the return to G1 in the two daughter cells. Variant cell cycles and polyploidy in neurons. (A) Cartoons showing the progression of the canonical cell cycle and two variant cell cycles: the endocycle and the endomitotic cycle. Multiple repeated canonical cell cycles result in numerous daughter cells with diploid DNA content, whereas endocycles result in cells with tetraploid or greater (>4C) DNA content and endomitosis can result in

In this context, neuronal cell cycle re-entry is widely considered to be aberrant and deleterious to neuronal health. In this review, we highlight historical and emerging reports of polyploidy in the nervous systems of various vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. Polyploidy can arise at both the organismal and suborganismal levels. At the organismal level, unreduced gametes (e.g., diploid instead of haploid) formed during meiosis can fuse to generate whole-organism polyploidy. Organismal polyploidy is a major driver of biodiversity that extends across all life, from deep history to the recent past [1, 2].Most, if not all, extant species (including our Moreover, while cell cycle progression entering the S phase was almost abolished by 24 HPT in diploid cells, stable polyploid cells successfully progressed to the subsequent cell cycle, even at

Polyploidy: a biological force from cells to ecosystems Biology Diagrams
Similarly, in plants, endoreplication responses (cell cycle activation without mitosis) can be stimulated by both major pathogens of agricultural crops (e.g., centers on polyploidy fueling increased adaptability, the converse can also occur. The duplicated gene copies in a polyploid cell or organism can minimize deleterious phenotypic
Consequently, two important events must occur in order to convert a mitotic cycle into an endoreplication cycle and achieve polyploidy: (1) cell division must be suppressed; and (2) CDK activity must continue to alternate between low and high levels in order for the genome to be reduplicated in the absence of cell division. As we discuss below The resulting cell is polyploid in DNA content. There are different types of endoreplication cycles, and different contexts in which cells employ them to become polyploid. Endoreplication cycles utilize parts of the cell cycle machinery to replicate DNA, but these cycles are curtailed and result in one cell with increased DNA content instead The canonical mitotic cell cycle that is composed of G1, S, G2 and M (A). The endoreplication cell cycle includes two forms of the mitotic cycle, endocycle (B) and endomitosis (C). The endocycle involves alternation between G phase and S phase to generate a mononucleated polyploid giant cell (black arrow).
