TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant domestication, a unique opportunity to identify the genetic basis of adaptation
AU - Ross-Ibarra, Jeffrey
AU - Morrell, Peter L.
AU - Gaut, Brandon S.
PY - 2007/5/15
Y1 - 2007/5/15
N2 - Despite the fundamental role of plant domestication in human history and the critical importance of a relatively small number of crop plants to modern societies, we still know little about adaptation under domestication. Here we focus on efforts to identify the genes responsible for adaptation to domestication. We start from a historical perspective, arguing that Darwin's conceptualization of domestication and unconscious selection provides valuable insight into the evolutionary history of crops and also provides a framework to evaluate modern methods used to decipher the genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic change. We then review these methods, framing the discussion in terms of the phenotype-genotype hierarchy. Top-down approaches, such as quantitative trait locus and linkage disequilibrium mapping, start with a phenotype of interest and use genetic analysis to identify candidate genes. Bottom-up approaches, alternatively, use population genetic analyses to identify potentially adaptive genes and then rely on standard bioinformatics and reverse genetic tools to connect selected genes to a phenotype. We discuss the successes, advantages, and challenges of each, but we conclude that bottom-up approaches to understanding domestication as an adaptive process hold greater promise both for the study of adaptation and as a means to identify genes that contribute to agronomically important traits.
AB - Despite the fundamental role of plant domestication in human history and the critical importance of a relatively small number of crop plants to modern societies, we still know little about adaptation under domestication. Here we focus on efforts to identify the genes responsible for adaptation to domestication. We start from a historical perspective, arguing that Darwin's conceptualization of domestication and unconscious selection provides valuable insight into the evolutionary history of crops and also provides a framework to evaluate modern methods used to decipher the genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic change. We then review these methods, framing the discussion in terms of the phenotype-genotype hierarchy. Top-down approaches, such as quantitative trait locus and linkage disequilibrium mapping, start with a phenotype of interest and use genetic analysis to identify candidate genes. Bottom-up approaches, alternatively, use population genetic analyses to identify potentially adaptive genes and then rely on standard bioinformatics and reverse genetic tools to connect selected genes to a phenotype. We discuss the successes, advantages, and challenges of each, but we conclude that bottom-up approaches to understanding domestication as an adaptive process hold greater promise both for the study of adaptation and as a means to identify genes that contribute to agronomically important traits.
KW - Agronomic traits
KW - Association mapping
KW - Phenotype
KW - Quantitative trait locus
KW - Selection
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0700643104
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0700643104
M3 - Article
C2 - 17494757
AN - SCOPUS:34447276219
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 104
SP - 8641
EP - 8648
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - SUPPL. 1
ER -