A new study led by Alex Baumel (AMU) et Juan Viruel (RBG Kew) rejects the hypothesis of a unique center of domestication for the carob tree based on teh caracterisation of carob evolutionary units in the Meditteranean basin, and proposes several centers of domestication, punctuated by long-distance westward dispersals of domesticated varieties by humans, concomitant with major cultural waves by Romans and Arabs.

Read the preprint: Genome-wide footprints in the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) unveil a new domestication pattern of fruit trees in the Mediterranean