Allopolyploidy: An Underestimated Driver in Juniperus Evolution
Journal: Life
Year: 2023

Allopolyploidy is considered as a principal driver that shaped angiosperms' evolution in terms of diversification and speciation. Despite the unexpected high frequency of polyploidy that was recently discovered in the coniferous genus <i>Juniperus</i>, little is known about the origin of these polyploid taxa. Here, we conducted the first study devoted to deciphering the origin of the only hexaploid taxon in <i>Juniperus</i> along with four of its closely related tetraploid taxa using AFLP marker