Does anyone know anything about tetraploid plants (with four copies of chromosomes). I have heard that these plants grow really quickly and then die, they have to be re-planted each year. Why does this happen? Why can a tetraploidal plant grow ok, but a human wouldnt be able to?
Xenopus Laevis is a tetraploid frog. I don't remember any specifc examples in plants on a widespread level. There is some general infor in the Rice genome thread ...