Healthy Food Development through Genetic Changes during Crop Domestication

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to contribute to the Special Issue, "Healthy Food Development through Genetic Changes during Crop Domestication".

The origin of agriculture was one of the key points in human history, and a central part of this was the evolution of new plant forms, domesticated crops. The process of crop domestication began 10,000 years ago in the transition of early humans, from hunter/gatherers to pastoralists/farmers. The transformation of wild plants into crop plants can be viewed as an accelerated evolution, the result of human and natural selection. These domestication-triggered changes represent adaptations to cultivation and human harvesting, accompanied by genetic changes. Common sets of traits have been recorded for unrelated crops, named domestication syndrome. These include loss of germination inhibition and increases in seed sizes, linked to successful early growth of planted seeds. In most crops where the seed or fruit is consumed, humans have domesticated wild plants in two important ways: Selected for seeds that are not dispersed widely as they are in wild plants, and seeds that will germinate rapidly when sown in cultivated fields, making a species dependent on farmers, and, in turn, allows farmer to harvest. At the same time, this process introduced the diversity bottleneck which affects the agronomic potential of today´s crops.

This Special Issue aims to collate current knowledge on crop domestication, including (but not limited to) the following issues: Genetic and phenotypic aspects of domestication, geography and timeframe, impact on crop productivity today and scenarios for future.

Analysis of past domestication events is also very informative today in light of climate change and modern crop breeding required to ensure global food security.

We welcome the following article types: Original research, reviews, and opinions.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Petr Symkal
Dr. Eric von Wettberg
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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