Population Genomics of Crop Domestication: Current State and Perspectives

Abstract

Genomics has enabled access to unprecedented amounts of genomic and transcriptomic data. Studies of crop domestication have benefited from these datasets for deeper insights into when, where, and how crops were domesticated. Although genomics makes it possible to answer such questions, it also creates new technical and methodological challenges. Such large genomic and transcriptomic datasets provide the opportunity to advance from descriptive to hypothesis testing studies. Several model-based methods are now available to test hypotheses and to trace the history of crops. Studies of gene expression and of ancient DNA are new very active fields which hold great promise. Here, we review some key questions concerning crop domestication and discuss how genomics can help answer these questions and what interesting new approaches could be used in the future. As genomics data continue to become available, domestication studies will advance our knowledge not only of well-known domestication models, such as rice and maize, but also of other currently less widely studied crops. We will then be able to test general hypotheses associated with domestication across species.