Fruit-tree domestication is harder to reconstruct than that of annual crops because trees live for decades, are often propagated clonally and can exchange pollen and seeds with nearby wild or naturalized populations. The common fig (Ficus carica) has long been linked to early agriculture in the Levant, yet fossils from France and Italy show that fig-like plants were present north of the Mediterranean tens of thousands of years before farming. Its domestication story is further complicated by uncertain boundaries among related fig lineages and by the close proximity of orchards and spontaneous trees. Based on these challenges, in-depth research is needed to determine whether Mediterranean figs arose from one eastern domestication center or from repeated regional selection.
Researchers from the University of Montpellier and partner French research organizations, New York University Abu Dhabi, the Conservatoire Botanique National Méditerranéen, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco’s National Institute for Agricultural Research, Lebanese University, and the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology published (DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhag113) the study in Horticulture Research on April 2, 2026. The international team compared cultivated and spontaneous figs across the Mediterranean and Near East to test whether their genetic structure supported a single Levantine origin or a broader pattern of regionally independent domestication.
The researchers analyzed 949 fig accessions collected from 48 sites in 14 countries, including 884 common figs, 27 Ficus colchica trees and 38 Ficus carica subsp. rupestris trees. The samples were gathered between 1985 and 1989, providing a historical snapshot of diversity before recent clonal homogenization. They genotyped each accession with 14 nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, then combined principal component analysis (PCA), Bayesian clustering with STRUCTURE, diversity estimates, isolation-by-distance testing and Estimated Effective Migration Surfaces (EEMS). The analyses consistently resolved three common-fig gene pools: Morocco–Algeria, the Northern Mediterranean Basin and the Levant. Cultivated trees did not form a separate genetic group; instead, they clustered with spontaneous trees from the same region. The Levantine gene pool was the most differentiated, while the Moroccan–Algerian and Northern Mediterranean pools were more closely connected along an east-to-west continuum. Spontaneous populations in Morocco–Algeria and the Levant also retained distinctive private alleles. The rupestris lineage formed a strongly differentiated cluster and showed the highest overall allelic richness, although the authors stressed that genome-wide evidence is still needed to resolve its formal taxonomic status. Together, the results favor repeated local domestication and continued regional gene flow over a single dispersal wave from the Fertile Crescent.
The authors said the findings support a different story from the familiar single-origin model. In their interpretation, fig domestication unfolded through repeated local choices: people protected, tended and propagated trees that already grew near villages, riverbanks and cultivated land, while pollen, seeds, birds and human exchange kept orchard and spontaneous populations connected. They said this continuity matters because local landraces and unmanaged stands preserve regional evolutionary histories that cannot be replaced by a small set of widely distributed cultivars, and may contain traits needed to sustain fig production under warmer, drier and more disease-prone conditions.
The study suggests that fig conservation and improvement should be organized around regional biodiversity. In situ protection of spontaneous populations, together with ex situ collections of traditional landraces, could preserve locally adapted variation linked to drought tolerance, disease resistance and fruit quality. Breeding programs could use these resources to broaden the genetic base of commercial cultivars rather than relying on a narrow elite pool. The regional genetic signatures may also strengthen the biological case for geographical-origin labeling and the promotion of local fig products. Future whole-genome analyses, denser sampling and explicit demographic modeling will be needed to test domestication scenarios more precisely, identify adaptive genes and translate the newly mapped diversity into resilient cultivars for Mediterranean agriculture.
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References
DOI
10.1093/hr/uhag113
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhag113
Funding information
Tamkeen Grant of New York University Abu Dhabi, grant AD 454; French National Research Agency (ANR) grant NICEFig; and Fondation Agropolis grants RTRA No. 07042, “FigOlivDiv,” and FruitMed No. 0901-007.
About Horticulture Research
Horticulture Research is an open access journal of Nanjing Agricultural University and ranked number one in the Horticulture category of the Journal Citation Reports ™ from Clarivate, 2023. The journal is committed to publishing original research articles, reviews, perspectives, comments, correspondence articles and letters to the editor related to all major horticultural plants and disciplines, including biotechnology, breeding, cellular and molecular biology, evolution, genetics, inter-species interactions, physiology, and the origination and domestication of crops.