The Neolithic Revolution brought about the transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary societies, laying the foundation for the development of modern civilizations. The primary innovation that facilitated these changes was the domestication of plants and animals. In the case of plants, this involved the cultivation and selection of individuals with larger edible parts, easier harvesting, and decreased defenses, traits that allowed for the production of a food surplus and occupational specialization. Plant domestication is a process which started approximately 10,000 years ago and has thereafter been repeated independently in many locales around the world. Here, we offer a perspective that seeks to predict what factors influence the success of domestication, how many genes contributed to the process, where these genes originated and the implications for de novo domestication.
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