Figure 1.

Traits associated with polyploidy in prokaryotes. The presence of multiple copies of replicons, and particularly chromosomes, has been proposed to confer several advantages. (A) It allows distributing gene expression through the entire cytoplasm in very large cells. It allows heterozygosity. In the presence of several replicons, the ratio between replicons allows gene expression regulation. (B) It allows repair by homologous recombination with other similar replicons. (C) Recombination between similar replicons also allows gene conversion and allelic exchange. Heterozygosity is indicated using distinct colors (red and black).