Domestication and plant genomes

Abstract

The techniques of plant improvement have been evolving with the advancement of technology, progressing from crop domestication by Neolithic humans to scientific plant breeding, and now including DNA-based genotyping and genetic engineering. Archeological findings have shown that early human ancestors often unintentionally selected for and finally fixed a few major domestication traits over time. Recent advancement of molecular and genomic tools has enabled scientists to pinpoint changes to specific chromosomal regions and genetic loci that are responsible for dramatic morphological and other transitions that distinguish crops from their wild progenitors. Extensive studies in a multitude of additional crop species, facilitated by rapid progress in sequencing and resequencing(s) of crop genomes, will further our understanding of the genomic impact from both the unusual population history of cultivated plants and millennia of human selection.