Evolutionary and functional potential of ploidy increase within individual plants: somatic ploidy mapping of the complex labellum of sexually deceptive bee orchids

摘要

Background and AimsRecent tissue-level observations made indirectly via flow cytometry suggest that endoreplication (duplication of the nuclear genome within the nuclear envelope in the absence of subsequent cell division) is widespread within the plant kingdom. Here, we also directly observe ploidy variation among cells within individual petals, relating size of nucleus to cell micromorphology and (more speculatively) to function.