%0 Journal Article
%T Plant Domestication and Resistance to Herbivory
%A Bhupendra Chaudhary
%J International Journal of Plant Genomics
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/572784
%X Transformation of wild species into elite cultivars through ¡°domestication¡± entails evolutionary responses in which plant populations adapt to selection. Domestication is a process characterized by the occurrence of key mutations in morphological, phenological, or utility genes, which leads to the increased adaptation and use of the plant; however, this process followed by modern plant breeding practices has presumably narrowed the genetic diversity in crop plants. The reduction of genetic diversity could result in ¡°broad susceptibility¡± to newly emerging herbivores and pathogens, thereby threatening long-term crop retention. Different QTLs influencing herbivore resistance have also been identified, which overlap with other genes of small effect regulating resistance indicating the presence of pleiotropism or linkage between such genes. However, this reduction in genetic variability could be remunerated by introgression of novel traits from wild perhaps with antifeedant and antinutritional toxic components. Thus it is strongly believed that transgenic technologies may provide a radical and promising solution to combat herbivory as these avoid linkage drag and also the antifeedant angle. Here, important questions related to the temporal dynamics of resistance to herbivory and intricate genetic phenomenon with their impact on crop evolution are addressed and at times hypothesized for future validation. 1. Introduction During speciation in crop plants, many morphological changes evolved in response to continuous selection pressure. Such characters are largely governed by genetic and epigenetic changes or are modulated according to ecological adaptations. The transition of wild progenitor species into modern elite cultivars through ¡°domestication¡± entails evolutionary responses in which plant populations adapt to human selection. In response to this selection most plant species exhibit marked changes in a variety of phenotypes, most noticeably in traits consciously under selection (e.g., fruit size, yield, and evenness of maturation) [1]. As Darwin [2] profoundly recognized long ago, the study of the phenotypic variation between wild and domesticated plants presents an opportunity to generate insight into general principles of evolution, using the morphologically variable antecedent and descendant taxa. An example of how this concept has transformed our understanding is the realization that natural selection pressure, as well as adaptation under human selection, often led to unexpected and unexplained departures from predicted phenotypes. This mainly
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijpg/2013/572784/