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Milla R, Westgeest AJ, Maestre-Villanueva J, Núñez-Castillo S, Gómez-Fernández A, Vasseur F, Violle C, Balarynová J, Smykal P. Evolutionary pathways to lower biomass allocation to the seed coat in crops: insights from allometric scaling. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 243:466-476. [PMID: 38757753 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Crops generally have seeds larger than their wild progenitors´ and with reduced dormancy. In wild plants, seed mass and allocation to the seed coat (a proxy for physical dormancy) scale allometrically so that larger seeds tend to allocate less to the coats. Larger seeds and lightweight coats might thus have evolved as correlated traits in crops. We tested whether 34 crops and 22 of their wild progenitors fit the allometry described in the literature, which would indicate co-selection of both traits during crop evolution. Deviations from the allometry would suggest that other evolutionary processes contribute to explain the emergence of larger, lightweight-coated seeds in crops. Crops fitted the scaling slope but deviated from its intercept in a consistent way: Seed coats of crops were lighter than expected by their seed size. The wild progenitors of crops displayed the same trend, indicating that deviations cannot be solely attributed to artificial selection during or after domestication. The evolution of seeds with small coats in crops likely resulted from a combination of various pressures, including the selection of wild progenitors with coats smaller than other wild plants, further decreases during early evolution under cultivation, and indirect selection due to the seed coat-seed size allometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén Milla
- ECOEVO Group, Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global (IICG-URJC), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933, Spain
| | | | - Jorge Maestre-Villanueva
- ECOEVO Group, Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global (IICG-URJC), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933, Spain
| | - Sergio Núñez-Castillo
- ECOEVO Group, Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global (IICG-URJC), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933, Spain
| | - Alicia Gómez-Fernández
- ECOEVO Group, Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global (IICG-URJC), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933, Spain
| | - François Vasseur
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE-PSL University, IRD, Montpellier, 34090, France
| | - Cyrille Violle
- CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE-PSL University, IRD, Montpellier, 34090, France
| | - Jana Balarynová
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Olomouc, CZ-783 71, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Smykal
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Olomouc, CZ-783 71, Czech Republic
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Alam O, Purugganan MD. Domestication and the evolution of crops: variable syndromes, complex genetic architectures, and ecological entanglements. THE PLANT CELL 2024; 36:1227-1241. [PMID: 38243576 PMCID: PMC11062453 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koae013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
Domestication can be considered a specialized mutualism in which a domesticator exerts control over the reproduction or propagation (fitness) of a domesticated species to gain resources or services. The evolution of crops by human-associated selection provides a powerful set of models to study recent evolutionary adaptations and their genetic bases. Moreover, the domestication and dispersal of crops such as rice, maize, and wheat during the Holocene transformed human social and political organization by serving as the key mechanism by which human societies fed themselves. Here we review major themes and identify emerging questions in three fundamental areas of crop domestication research: domestication phenotypes and syndromes, genetic architecture underlying crop evolution, and the ecology of domestication. Current insights on the domestication syndrome in crops largely come from research on cereal crops such as rice and maize, and recent work indicates distinct domestication phenotypes can arise from different domestication histories. While early studies on the genetics of domestication often identified single large-effect loci underlying major domestication traits, emerging evidence supports polygenic bases for many canonical traits such as shattering and plant architecture. Adaptation in human-constructed environments also influenced ecological traits in domesticates such as resource acquisition rates and interactions with other organisms such as root mycorrhizal fungi and pollinators. Understanding the ecological context of domestication will be key to developing resource-efficient crops and implementing more sustainable land management and cultivation practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ornob Alam
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Michael D Purugganan
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, New York, NY, 10028, USA
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3
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Gómez-Fernández A, Aranda I, Milla R. Early human selection of crops' wild progenitors explains the acquisitive physiology of modern cultivars. NATURE PLANTS 2024; 10:25-36. [PMID: 38172574 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-023-01588-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Crops have resource-acquisitive leaf traits, which are usually attributed to the process of domestication. However, early choices of wild plants amenable for domestication may also have played a key role in the evolution of crops' physiological traits. Here we compiled data on 1,034 annual herbs to place the ecophysiological traits of 69 crops' wild progenitors in the context of global botanical variation, and we conducted a common-garden experiment to measure the effects of domestication on crop ecophysiology. Our study found that crops' wild progenitors already had high leaf nitrogen, photosynthesis, conductance and transpiration and soft leaves. After domestication, ecophysiological traits varied little and in idiosyncratic ways. Crops did not surpass the trait boundaries of wild species. Overall, the resource-acquisitive strategy of crops is largely due to the inheritance from their wild progenitors rather than to further breeding improvements. Our study concurs with recent literature highlighting constraints of crop breeding for faster ecophysiological traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicia Gómez-Fernández
- Grupo de investigación en Ecología Evolutiva, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Ismael Aranda
- Instituto de Ciencias Forestales, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rubén Milla
- Grupo de investigación en Ecología Evolutiva, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Instituto de Investigación en Cambio Global, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
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4
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Strelin MM, Diggle PK, Aizen MA. Flower heterochrony and crop yield. TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 28:1360-1369. [PMID: 37612211 DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2023.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 06/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
Crop improvement has focused on enhancing yield, nutrient content, harvestability, and stress resistance using a trait-centered reductionist approach. This has downplayed the fact that plants are developmentally integrated and respond coordinately and predictably to genetic and environmental variation, with potential consequences for food production. Crop yield, including both fruit/seed production and the possibility of generating hybrid crop varieties, is highly dependent on flower morphology and sex, which, in turn, can be profoundly affected by slight shifts in the timing and rate of flower organ development (i.e., flower heterochrony). We argue that understanding the genetic and environmental bases of flower heterochrony and their effect on flower morphology and sex in cultivated plants and in their wild relatives can facilitate crop improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina M Strelin
- Grupo de Investigación en Ecología de la Polinización, Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA (CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Comahue), San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina.
| | - Pamela K Diggle
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Marcelo A Aizen
- Grupo de Investigación en Ecología de la Polinización, Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA (CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Comahue), San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
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Conrady M, Lampei C, Bossdorf O, Hölzel N, Michalski S, Durka W, Bucharova A. Plants cultivated for ecosystem restoration can evolve toward a domestication syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2219664120. [PMID: 37155873 PMCID: PMC10193954 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219664120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration calls for upscaling restoration efforts, but many terrestrial restoration projects are constrained by seed availability. To overcome these constraints, wild plants are increasingly propagated on farms to produce seeds for restoration projects. During on-farm propagation, the plants face non-natural conditions with different selection pressures, and they might evolve adaptations to cultivation that parallel those of agricultural crops, which could be detrimental to restoration success. To test this, we compared traits of 19 species grown from wild-collected seeds to those from their farm-propagated offspring of up to four cultivation generations, produced by two European seed growers, in a common garden experiment. We found that some plants rapidly evolved across cultivated generations towards increased size and reproduction, lower within-species variability, and more synchronized flowering. In one species, we found evolution towards less seed shattering. These trait changes are typical signs of the crop domestication syndrome, and our study demonstrates that it can also occur during cultivation of wild plants, within only few cultivated generations. However, there was large variability between cultivation lineages, and the observed effect sizes were generally rather moderate, which suggests that the detected evolutionary changes are unlikely to compromise farm-propagated seeds for ecosystem restoration. To mitigate the potential negative effects of unintended selection, we recommend to limit the maximum number of generations the plants can be cultivated without replenishing the seed stock from new wild collections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malte Conrady
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, 48149Münster, Germany
- Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, 35043Marburg, Germany
| | - Christian Lampei
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, 48149Münster, Germany
- Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, 35043Marburg, Germany
| | - Oliver Bossdorf
- Plant Evolutionary Ecology, Institute of Evolution & Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72076Tübingen, Germany
| | - Norbert Hölzel
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, 48149Münster, Germany
| | - Stefan Michalski
- Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, 06120Halle, Germany
| | - Walter Durka
- Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, 06120Halle, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anna Bucharova
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, 48149Münster, Germany
- Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, 35043Marburg, Germany
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Renzi JP, Coyne CJ, Berger J, von Wettberg E, Nelson M, Ureta S, Hernández F, Smýkal P, Brus J. How Could the Use of Crop Wild Relatives in Breeding Increase the Adaptation of Crops to Marginal Environments? FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:886162. [PMID: 35783966 PMCID: PMC9243378 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.886162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Alongside the use of fertilizer and chemical control of weeds, pests, and diseases modern breeding has been very successful in generating cultivars that have increased agricultural production several fold in favorable environments. These typically homogeneous cultivars (either homozygous inbreds or hybrids derived from inbred parents) are bred under optimal field conditions and perform well when there is sufficient water and nutrients. However, such optimal conditions are rare globally; indeed, a large proportion of arable land could be considered marginal for agricultural production. Marginal agricultural land typically has poor fertility and/or shallow soil depth, is subject to soil erosion, and often occurs in semi-arid or saline environments. Moreover, these marginal environments are expected to expand with ongoing climate change and progressive degradation of soil and water resources globally. Crop wild relatives (CWRs), most often used in breeding as sources of biotic resistance, often also possess traits adapting them to marginal environments. Wild progenitors have been selected over the course of their evolutionary history to maintain their fitness under a diverse range of stresses. Conversely, modern breeding for broad adaptation has reduced genetic diversity and increased genetic vulnerability to biotic and abiotic challenges. There is potential to exploit genetic heterogeneity, as opposed to genetic uniformity, in breeding for the utilization of marginal lands. This review discusses the adaptive traits that could improve the performance of cultivars in marginal environments and breeding strategies to deploy them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Pablo Renzi
- Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Hilario Ascasubi, Argentina
- CERZOS, Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional del Sur (CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Argentina
| | | | - Jens Berger
- Agriculture and Food, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Wembley, WA, Australia
| | - Eric von Wettberg
- Department of Plant and Soil Science, Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Matthew Nelson
- Agriculture and Food, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Wembley, WA, Australia
- The UWA Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Soledad Ureta
- CERZOS, Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional del Sur (CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Argentina
| | - Fernando Hernández
- CERZOS, Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional del Sur (CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Argentina
| | - Petr Smýkal
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czechia
| | - Jan Brus
- Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Sciences, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czechia
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7
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Martin AR. Crop domestication, functional traits and the boundaries of nature. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Adam R. Martin
- Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences University of Toronto Scarborough Toronto ON Canada
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