Intentional and unintentional selection during plant domestication: herbivore damage, plant defensive traits and nutritional quality of fruit and seed crops

FERNANDEZ, A. R.; SÁEZ, A.; QUINTERO, C.; GLEISER, G.; AIZEN, M. A.

New Phytologist

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2021 vol. 4 p. 1586 - 1598

1469-8137

Greater susceptibility to herbivory can arise as an effect of crop domestication. One proposedexplanation is that defenses decreased intentionally or unintentionally during thedomestication process, but evidence for this remains elusive. An alternative but nonexclusiveexplanation is presumed selection for higher nutritional quality. We used a metaanalytical approach to examine susceptibility to herbivores in fruit and seedcrops and their wild relatives. Our analyses provide novel insights into the mechanisms ofincreased susceptibility by evaluating whether it can be attributed to either a reduction in herbivoredefensive traits, including direct/indirect and constitutive/inducible defenses, or anincrease in the nutritional content of crops. The results confirm higher herbivory and lower levels of all types of defenses in crops comparedto wild relatives, although indirect defenses were more affected than direct ones. Contraryto expectations, nutritional quality was lower in crops than in wild relatives, which mayenhance biomass loss to herbivores if they increase consumption to meet nutritional requirements. Our findings represent an important advance in our understanding of how changes indefensive and nutritional traits following domestication could influence, in combination orindividually, crop susceptibility to herbivore attacks.