Hybridisation

Polyploidy and hybridisation are important evolutionary forces shaping plant genomes and underlying the huge angiosperm diversity. Both can confer evolutionary advantages [44–46] attributed to the plasticity of plant genomes and to increased genetic variability, generating individuals capable of exploiting new niches [47].

In situ hybridisations were performed on devitellinised embryos still wrapped around the yolk and on embryos with the yolk dissected away.