In a recent article entitled, “Gene duplication as a mechanism of genomic adaptation to a changing environment” published online in Oct. 12 issue of PNAS, Fyodor A. Kondrashov at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) describes the results of an extensive study on the evolutionary theory  on the maintenance of redundant copies of a gene in a genome  over a long period of time. Instances of adaptive gene duplications in response to diverse climatic conditions are on record. There are examples of adaptive gene duplications but whether a generalization can be made from these observations is still debatable. It is not yet known for certain whether some particular types of genes are likely to be selected for certain environmental conditions. The results described here serve as a guide to future research work on the evolution of duplicate genes whether or not gene duplication plays a pivotal role in the dynamics of plant evolution related to environmental change.