The Nature and Constraints of Plant Evolution Under Domestication

Our understanding of the evolution of domestication has changed radically in the past ten years from a relatively simplistic rapid origin scenario to a protracted complex process. Through the use of archaeogenomics we can observe genome evolution directly through time. We have been applying this to understand how domesticated crops have evolved and adapted to their environments. Through NGS approaches we have retrieved genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic data that are helping us to build a picture of how crops have evolved. The use of both archaeological and historical samples have proved crucial, as well as trawling the bottom of the sea for sedaDNA to track the spread of crops. We have found that historic samples can provide a clearer signal of adaptation than we can gain from modern samples that have been the subject of recent movements. Together, our data are producing a picture of how plants adapted as agriculture spread, and tempered that spread. Furthermore, we see the proactive adaptation of plants overriding the artificial selection pressures applied by humans illustrating the co-evolutionary nature of our relationship with the plant world.