I heard it through the genome

The paper:

O. Jaillon et al., "The grapevine genome sequence suggests ancestral hexaploidization in major angiosperm phyla," Nature, 449:463–68, 2007. (Cited in 133 papers)

The finding:

A team of researchers in France and Italy sequenced the genome of the common grapevine, Vitis vinifera, and found evidence of a whole genome tripling event prior to the divergence of monocots and dicots, the two main classes of flowering plants. The sequence "gave us insights into what early dicots looked like," says Andrew Paterson, of the University of Georgia.

The impact:

Polyploidization has been linked with increased vigor and enhanced adaptation to different conditions. Thus, genome tripling could be "responsible for the great success of flowering plants on earth," says lead author Patrick Wincker of Genoscope, the French National Sequencing Center, in an email.

The follow-up:

Last year, Paterson used the grapevine genome to successfully verify a phylogenetic method to infer ancestral genome structure in flowering plants (Science, 320:486–88, 2008).

The step back:

Pamela Soltis, a University of Florida evolutionary biologist, sequenced genes in the primitive shrub Amborella and found that it may not have undergone genome duplication, unlike virtually all other flowering plants. This suggests that Amborella may be even more ancestral than the grapevine, she says.

Comparison of sequenced dicot genomes
	Genome size	No. of chromosomes	No. of genes
Grapevine	487	19	30,434
Poplar	485	19	45,555
Papaya	372	9	24,746
Arabidopsis	125	5	31,114

The finding that Amborella, one of the most basal flowering plants - if not the most basal - has not experienced polyploidisation is interesting, but unfortunately the author does not explain its significance. That the grapevine is more derived than Amborella is no surprise to anyone. I'm trying hard to work out just what the author is trying to tell us...