Domesticated crop and ornamental plants evolved relatively recently through the artificial selection of key traits, including those affecting seed size and plant architecture. However, current domesticated elite lines are proving less resilient in the face of climate change compared to their genetically-rich wild relatives. With the rapid widespread use of sequencing technology and genome editing tools, new research is focused on the genomics and potential manipulation of wild relatives and other related feral lines to ameliorate existing domesticated lines or create new varieties. This special issue contains a collection of research and review papers discussing our current understanding of classical domestication traits as well as ongoing efforts towards de novo domestication. For more information, see editorial by David Jackson and Robin Buell (on pp. 1527-1528).