Ecology, Evolution, and Genetics in Wild–Domesticate Plant Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Domestication is one of the most consequential evolutionary processes in plants, reshaping organismal traits, ecological interactions, and evolutionary trajectories while generating remarkable biological diversity. Comparisons between wild ancestors and their domesticated counterparts provide powerful systems for understanding how natural and artificial selection, together with environmental change, configure phenotypes, genetic diversity, and ecological function. In the context of rapid global change, these systems offer unique opportunities to examine adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, and resilience across contrasting evolutionary and ecological settings.

This Special Issue aims to bring together recent empirical, experimental, and conceptual studies that use wild–domesticate comparisons to advance our understanding of ecological, evolutionary, and genetic processes in plants. We also welcome contributions on crop wild relatives that improve our understanding of evolution under domestication, as well as studies on crops examined within an agroecological and evolutionary framework. Topics of interest include phenotypic plasticity, genetic diversity, genetic architecture, and genotype × environment interactions, as well as trade-offs among growth, reproduction, defense, and stress tolerance.

We particularly encourage submissions employing genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and quantitative genetic approaches to investigate the mechanisms underlying domestication related divergence and the retention or loss of adaptive potential in managed systems. Studies comparing levels and patterns of genetic diversity across wild ancestors, crop wild relatives, landraces, and domesticated populations are especially welcome, as are contributions addressing introgression and the role of wild germplasm in enhancing resilience to biotic and abiotic stress.

Contributions may also explore ecological interactions in wild–domesticate systems, including plant–herbivore, plant–pollinator, host–pathogen, and microbiome dynamics and how these interactions are reshaped by domestication and cultivation. Experimental approaches spanning common gardens, reciprocal transplants, nutrient or climate gradients, and long-term field studies are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Miguel A. Munguía-Rosas
Guest Editor

Dr. Rafael Bello-Bedoy
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.