Polyploid cells are cells containing multiple copies of their chromosomes. This often occurs in plants:
wheat, for example, after millennia of
hybridization[?] and modification by humans, has strains that are
triploid, with three copies of each chromosomne, and
tetraploid, with four copies.
Polyploidy can be induced in cell culture by some chemicals: the best known is Colchicine[?], which causes chromosome doubling.
- See also : ploidy -- biology -- genetics