Evolution of crop species: genetics of domestication and diversification

• Published in: Nature reviews. Genetics Vol. 14; no. 12; pp. 840 - 852
• Main Authors: Meyer, Rachel S., Purugganan, Michael D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.12.2013; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/208/2491; 631/208/480; 631/449/2492; Agriculture; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Biological diversity; Biology; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Corn; Crops; Crops, Agricultural - genetics; Diversification; Domestication; Evolution & development; Evolution, Molecular; Evolutionary genetics; Gene Flow; Gene Function; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetics; Genome, Plant; Genomes; Genomics; Human Genetics; Humans; Models, Genetic; Mutation; Oryza - genetics; Quantitative Trait Loci; review-article; Selection, Genetic; Zea mays - genetics; New York; Mexico; United Arab Emirates; United States > US; Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
• ISSN: 1471-0056; 1471-0064
• DOI: 10.1038/nrg3605

Key Points Quantitative trait locus mapping techniques, genome-wide association studies and next-generation sequencing technologies have led to the discovery of genes that drive domestication and that lead to evolutionary diversification of cultivated plant species. Molecular data have provided insights into the nature of selection on these evolutionary genes in crops, as well as the nature of the genes and mutations that are associated with the process. Early steps in domestication seem to be associated with transcription factor loci, whereas in later crop diversification, enzyme-coding genes are targeted by selection. Loss-of-function point mutations are the most common mutational lesion that is found in domestication genes. Although only a handful of species have been studied in-depth, shifts in both domestication- and diversification-related traits can be examined in population demographic analyses using molecular, historic and archaeological data. The recent improvement in technologies to identify genetic variants linked with quantitative traits has allowed the identification of variants that are associated with crop domestication. This Review considers these approaches and their application to the study of crop domestication. Domestication is a good model for the study of evolutionary processes because of the recent evolution of crop species (<12,000 years ago), the key role of selection in their origins, and good archaeological and historical data on their spread and diversification. Recent studies, such as quantitative trait locus mapping, genome-wide association studies and whole-genome resequencing studies, have identified genes that are associated with the initial domestication and subsequent diversification of crops. Together, these studies reveal the functions of genes that are involved in the evolution of crops that are under domestication, the types of mutations that occur during this process and the parallelism of mutations that occur in the same pathways and proteins, as well as the selective forces that are acting on these mutations and that are associated with geographical adaptation of crop species.