Using archaeogenomic and computational approaches to unravel the history of local adaptation in crops.

ABSTRACT: Our understanding of the evolution of domestication has changed radically in the past 10 years, from a relatively simplistic rapid origin scenario to a protracted complex process in which plants adapted to the human environment. The adaptation of plants continued as the human environment changed with the expansion of agriculture from its centres of origin. Using archaeogenomics and computational models, we can observe genome evolution directly and understand how plants adapted to the human environment and the regional conditions to which agriculture expanded. We have applied various archaeogenomics approaches as exemplars to study local adaptation of barley to drought resistance at Qasr Ibrim, Egypt. We show the utility of DNA capture, ancient RNA, methylation patterns and DNA from charred

SUBMITTER: Allaby RG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4275885 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature