The effect of domestication on plant evolution

The processes of plant domestication and evolution are considered to have different objectives and are therefore treated as different. However, they are not independent. The dependence is discussed in terms of a contribution of the results of domestication to evolution and a contribution of knowledge about the included mechanisms. Reproductive isolation can be developed in the framework of domestication, and cultigens such as Triticum aestivum, Solanum tuberosum, Coffea arabica and Vicia faba are treated as species in the evolutionary sense. Newly obtained character combinations as a result of plant breeding can be transferred to natural populations by means of hybridization. Several methods for analysing the rate of gene flow are discussed. The study of the occurrence of horizontal gene transfer in nature is stimulated by the development of the technique of genetic modification in biotechnologic research. Presumed cases of transfer of genetic material between unrelated Angiosperms are based on phylogenetic inconsistencies between gene trees and species trees, although evidence on the vector involved in nature is not available.