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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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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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Allaby RG, Stevens CJ, Kistler L, Fuller DQ. Emerging evidence of plant domestication as a landscape-level process. Trends Ecol Evol 2021; 37:268-279. [PMID: 34863580 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The evidence from ancient crops over the past decade challenges some of our most basic assumptions about the process of domestication. The emergence of crops has been viewed as a technologically progressive process in which single or multiple localized populations adapt to human environments in response to cultivation. By contrast, new genetic and archaeological evidence reveals a slow process that involved large populations over wide areas with unexpectedly sustained cultural connections in deep time. We review evidence that calls for a new landscape framework of crop origins. Evolutionary processes operate across vast distances of landscape and time, and the origins of domesticates are complex. The domestication bottleneck is a redundant concept and the progressive nature of domestication is in doubt.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin G Allaby
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
| | - Chris J Stevens
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London (UCL), London, UK; School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, China; McDonald Institute of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Logan Kistler
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Dorian Q Fuller
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London (UCL), London, UK; School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
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Garibaldi LA, Aizen MA, Sáez A, Gleiser G, Strelin MM, Harder LD. The influences of progenitor filtering, domestication selection and the boundaries of nature on the domestication of grain crops. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lucas A. Garibaldi
- Universidad Nacional de Río Negro Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural San Carlos de Bariloche Río Negro Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural San Carlos de Bariloche Río Negro Argentina
| | - Marcelo A. Aizen
- Grupo de Ecología de la Polinización Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA)Universidad Nacional del Comahue ‐ CONICET San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro Argentina
- Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Berlin Germany
| | - Agustín Sáez
- Grupo de Ecología de la Polinización Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA)Universidad Nacional del Comahue ‐ CONICET San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro Argentina
| | - Gabriela Gleiser
- Grupo de Ecología de la Polinización Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA)Universidad Nacional del Comahue ‐ CONICET San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro Argentina
| | - Marina M. Strelin
- Grupo de Ecología de la Polinización Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (INIBIOMA)Universidad Nacional del Comahue ‐ CONICET San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro Argentina
| | - Lawrence D. Harder
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Calgary Calgary AB Canada
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Preece C, Jones G, Rees M, Osborne CP. Fertile Crescent crop progenitors gained a competitive advantage from large seedlings. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:3300-3312. [PMID: 33841785 PMCID: PMC8019021 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Revised: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Cereal domestication during the transition to agriculture resulted in widespread food production, but why only certain species were domesticated remains unknown. We tested whether seedlings of crop progenitors share functional traits that could give them a competitive advantage within anthropogenic environments, including higher germination, greater seedling survival, faster growth rates, and greater competitive ability.Fifteen wild grass species from the Fertile Crescent were grown individually under controlled conditions to evaluate differences in growth between cereal crop progenitors and other wild species that were never domesticated. Differences in germination, seedling survival, and competitive ability were measured by growing a subset of these species as monocultures and mixtures.Crop progenitors had greater germination success, germinated more quickly and had greater aboveground biomass when grown in competition with other species. There was no evidence of a difference in seedling survival, but seed size was positively correlated with a number of traits, including net assimilation rates, greater germination success, and faster germination under competition. In mixtures, the positive effect of seed mass on germination success and speed of germination was even more beneficial for crop progenitors than for other wild species, suggesting greater fitness. Thus, selection for larger seeded individuals under competition may have been stronger in the crop progenitors.The strong competitive ability of Fertile Crescent cereal crop progenitors, linked to their larger seedling size, represents an important ecological difference between these species and other wild grasses in the region. It is consistent with the hypothesis that competition within plant communities surrounding human settlements, or under early cultivation, benefited progenitor species, favoring their success as crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Preece
- Department of Animal and Plant SciencesUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldUK
- PLECO (Plants and Ecosystems)Department of BiologyUniversity of AntwerpWilrijkBelgium
| | - Glynis Jones
- Department of ArchaeologyUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldUK
| | - Mark Rees
- Department of Animal and Plant SciencesUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldUK
| | - Colin P. Osborne
- Department of Animal and Plant SciencesUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldUK
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Dingkuhn M, Luquet D, Fabre D, Muller B, Yin X, Paul MJ. The case for improving crop carbon sink strength or plasticity for a CO 2-rich future. CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY 2020; 56:259-272. [PMID: 32682621 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2020.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Revised: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Atmospheric CO2 concentration [CO2] has increased from 260 to 280μmolmol-1 (level during crop domestication up to the industrial revolution) to currently 400 and will reach 550μmolmol-1 by 2050. C3 crops are expected to benefit from elevated [CO2] (e-CO2) thanks to photosynthesis responsiveness to [CO2] but this may require greater sink capacity. We review recent literature on crop e-CO2 responses, related source-sink interactions, how abiotic stresses potentially interact, and prospects to improve e-CO2 response via breeding or genetic engineering. Several lines of evidence suggest that e-CO2 responsiveness is related either to sink intrinsic capacity or adaptive plasticity, for example, involving enhanced branching. Wild relatives and old cultivars mostly showed lower photosynthetic rates, less downward acclimation of photosynthesis to e-CO2 and responded strongly to e-CO2 due to greater phenotypic plasticity. While reverting to such archaic traits would be an inappropriate strategy for breeding, we argue that substantial enhancement of vegetative sink vigor, inflorescence size and/or number and root sinks will be necessary to fully benefit from e-CO2. Potential ideotype features based on enhanced sinks are discussed. The generic 'feast-famine' sugar signaling pathway may be suited to engineer sink strength tissue-specifically and stage-specifically and help validate ideotype concepts. Finally, we argue that models better accounting for acclimation to e-CO2 are needed to predict which trait combinations should be targeted by breeders for a CO2-rich world.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Denis Fabre
- CIRAD, UMR 108 AGAP, F-34398 Montpellier, France
| | - Bertrand Muller
- INRAE, UMR 759 LEPSE, Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Plantes, F-34060 Montpellier, France
| | - Xinyou Yin
- Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Dept. Plant Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Matthew J Paul
- Plant Science, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom
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Hughes A, Oliveira HR, Fradgley N, Corke FMK, Cockram J, Doonan JH, Nibau C. μCT trait analysis reveals morphometric differences between domesticated temperate small grain cereals and their wild relatives. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2019; 99:98-111. [PMID: 30868647 PMCID: PMC6618119 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.14312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Wheat and barley are two of the founder crops domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, and currently represent crops of major economic importance in temperate regions. Due to impacts on yield, quality and end-use, grain morphometric traits remain an important goal for modern breeding programmes and are believed to have been selected for by human populations. To directly and accurately assess the three-dimensional (3D) characteristics of grains, we combine X-ray microcomputed tomography (μCT) imaging techniques with bespoke image analysis tools and mathematical modelling to investigate how grain size and shape vary across wild and domesticated wheat and barley. We find that grain depth and, to a lesser extent, width are major drivers of shape change and that these traits are still relatively plastic in modern bread wheat varieties. Significant changes in grain depth are also observed to be associated with differences in ploidy. Finally, we present a model that can accurately predict the wild or domesticated status of a grain from a given taxa based on the relationship between three morphometric parameters (length, width and depth) and suggest its general applicability to both archaeological identification studies and breeding programmes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aoife Hughes
- The National Plant Phenomics CentreInstitute of Biological, Rural and Environmental Sciences (IBERS)Aberystwyth UniversityGogerddan, AberystwythSY23 3EEUK
- Present address:
Computational and Systems Biology and Crop GeneticsJohn Innes CentreNorwichNR4 7 UHUK
| | - Hugo R. Oliveira
- School of Earth and Environmental SciencesManchester Institute of BiotechnologyUniversity of ManchesterManchesterM1 7DNUK
- Present address:
Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behaviour (ICArEHB)Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e SociaisUniversidade do AlgarveCampus de GambelasFaro8005‐139Portugal
| | - Nick Fradgley
- John Bingham LaboratoryNIABHuntingdon RoadCambridgeCB3 0LEUK
| | - Fiona M. K. Corke
- The National Plant Phenomics CentreInstitute of Biological, Rural and Environmental Sciences (IBERS)Aberystwyth UniversityGogerddan, AberystwythSY23 3EEUK
| | - James Cockram
- John Bingham LaboratoryNIABHuntingdon RoadCambridgeCB3 0LEUK
| | - John H. Doonan
- The National Plant Phenomics CentreInstitute of Biological, Rural and Environmental Sciences (IBERS)Aberystwyth UniversityGogerddan, AberystwythSY23 3EEUK
| | - Candida Nibau
- The National Plant Phenomics CentreInstitute of Biological, Rural and Environmental Sciences (IBERS)Aberystwyth UniversityGogerddan, AberystwythSY23 3EEUK
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