When performing a genome-wide comparison between indica (93-11) and japonica (Nipponbare), we find 8% of the genome, which have an extremely low SNP rate (< 1 SNP/kb). Inside these 'SNP deserts', experimentally confirmed genes show increased K(a)/K(s) that indicate adaptive selection. To further elucidate this connection, we survey the level and pattern of genetic variation in both cultivated a...

Root plasticity, a trait that can respond to selective pressure, may help plants forage for nutrients in heterogeneous soils. Agricultural breeding programs have artificially selected for increased yield under comparatively homogeneous soil conditions, potentially decreasing the capacity for plasticity in crop plants like barley (Hordeum vulgare). However, the effects of domestication on the ev...

It has been hypothesized that reproductive isolation should facilitate evolution under domestication. However, a systematic comparison of reproductive barrier strength between crops and their progenitors has not been conducted to test this hypothesis. Here, we present a systematic survey of reproductive barriers between 32 economically important crop species and their progenitors to better unde...

The domestication of animals, plants, and microbes fundamentally transformed the lifestyle and demography of the human species [1]. Although the genetic and functional underpinnings of animal and plant domestication are well understood, little is known about microbe domestication [2-6]. Here, we systematically examined genome-wide sequence and functional variation between the domesticated fungu...

Domestication is a genetic selection process exerted – consciously or unconsciously – by humans to adapt wild plants andanimals to cultivation andherding, respectively. Because of this process, major crops and domesticated breeds arose,whichwere not only easier to cultivate or herd but also more appealing to consume or process for further uses. During domestication, plants and animals are subje...

BACKGROUND Goldfish, Carassius auratus, have experienced strong anthropogenic selection during their evolutionary history, generating a tremendous extent of morphological variation relative to that in native Carassius. To locate the geographic origin of goldfish, we analyzed nucleotide sequences from part of the control region (CR) and the entire cytochrome b (Cytb) mitochondrial DNA genes for ...

The hypothesis that anatomically modern homo sapiens could have undergone changes akin to those observed in domesticated animals has been contemplated in the biological sciences for at least 150 years. The idea had already plagued philosophers such as Rousseau, who considered the civilization of man as going against human nature, and eventually "sparked over" to the medical sciences in the late...

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera), one of the most important fruit species in the Classical Mediterranean world, is thought to have been domesticated first in South-Western Asia, during the Neolithic. However, the domestication process remains largely unknown. Crucial unanswered questions concern the duration of the process (rapid or slow?) and the related geographical area (single or multiple-origins...

Domestication of animals has had some important effects on physiology, morphology, behavior and well-being of domesticated animals. Conscious or goal directed selections on animals for increasing their productions has accelerated the rate of the changes, leading to some well-being defections. This paper notes some aspects of animal domestication in context of genetic science. Then explains how ...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to dissect into quantitative trait loci (QTLs) the large morphological and physiological differences between cultivated azuki bean (Vigna angularis) and a wild relative and to infer the commonalities of the QTLs for domestication-related traits across the Asian Vigna and with other warm-season legumes. METHODS Two linkage maps, for the BC(1)F(1) and ...