[pol-ee-ploid] 
Biology| 1. | having a chromosome number that is more than double the basic or haploid number. |
| 2. | a polyploid cell or organism. |
| pol·y·ploid (pŏl'ē-ploid') adj. Having one or more extra sets of chromosomes: a polyploid species; a polyploid cell. n. An organism with more than two sets of chromosomes. pol'y·ploi'dy n. |
polyploid pol·y·ploid (pŏl'ē-ploid')
adj.
Having extra sets of chromosomes. n.
An organism with more than two sets of chromosomes.
| polyploid (pŏl'ē-ploid') Pronunciation Key
Having more than two complete sets of chromosomes. Many plants that are polyploid, such as dandelions, are sterile but can reproduce by apomixis or other asexual means. Other polyploid plants are fertile. For example, durum wheat (Triticum turgidum durum), which is used to make pasta, is tetraploid (it has four sets of chromosomes), while bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is hexaploid (six sets of chromosomes). Polyploid plants, if viable, are often larger or more productive than diploid plants, and plant breeders often deliberately produce such plants by crossing species or other means. In the animal kingdom, polyploidy is abnormal and often fatal. |
| polyploidy (pŏl'ē-ploi'dē) Pronunciation Key
The state or condition of being polyploid. |
polyploidy
the condition in which a normally diploid cell or organism acquires one or more additional sets of chromosomes. In other words, the polyploid cell or organism has three or more times the haploid chromosome number. Polyploidy arises as the result of total nondisjunction of chromosomes during mitosis or meiosis.
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iˌplɔɪd