OVER TIME, HUMANS HAVE DOMESTICATED A WIDE VARIETY OF PLANT SPECIES TO SERVE AS CROPS BY SELECTING FOR DESIRABLE TRAITS. THESE TYPES OF TRAITS OFTEN MANIFEST AS COMPLEX PHENOTYPES THAT ARE LIKELY CONTROLLED BY VARIATION AT MULTIPLE GENETIC LOCI. UNTANGLING SUCH QUANTITATIVE GENOMIC EFFECTS HAS PROVED TO BE DIFFICULT DUE TO THE UNEQUAL MIXTURE OF MODEST AND HIGH IMPACT LOCI. TO UNCOVER HOW THESE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT LOCI INFLUENCE TRAIT EVOLUTION, COMPARISONS CAN BE MADE BETWEEN DIVERGENT COLLECTIONS OF MODERN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. BY APPLYING HIGH-THROUGHPUT NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING TO POPULATIONS OF SAMPLES ACROSS ARCHAEOLOGICAL TIME, CANDIDATE GENES CAN BE ISOLATED AND IMPLICATED IN THE SELECTIVE TRANSITION. TAKING THESE GENES AND STUDYING THE GENOMIC VARIATION WILL OUTLINE PRINCIPLES OF QUANTITATIVE VARIATION AND HOW THEY IMPACTED SELECTION DURING DOMESTICATION. LOOKING SPECIFICALLY AT THE OILSEED CROP SUNFLOWER, ITS WELL-PRESERVED ARCHEOLOGICAL SAMPLES AND EXISTING KNOWLEDGE BASE OF DOMESTICATION PHENOTYPES HAS ALLOWED FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF A SUBSET OF CANDIDATE GENES LIKELY INVOLVED IN SUNFLOWER DOMESTICATION. WHILE THIS SUBSET HAS BEEN INFORMATIVE, THEY ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ENTIRE SWEEP OF GENES INVOLVED IN SUNFLOWER DOMESTICATION. TO FURTHER DEFINE LOCI OF INTEREST, ADDITIONAL NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING APPROACHES ARE NEEDED TO IDENTIFY SPECIFIC CAUSAL VARIANTS AND EXAMINE THE FUNCTIONS OF THOSE GENE TARGETS. WITH THESE CANDIDATE GENES IDENTIFIED, THEY CAN SUBSEQUENTLY BE MANIPULATED FOR THE GENERATION OF IMPROVED CULTIVARS. HEREIN LIES ANOTHER HURDLE, SPECIFICALLY IN THE CREATION OF NEW VARIANTS OF INTEREST. IN SUNFLOWERS, ESTABLISHING GENE FUNCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW VARIETIES HAS BEEN DIFFICULT DUE TO THE ARDUOUS, TIME-CONSUMING AND OFTEN RECALCITRANT NATURE OF CURRENT TRANSFORMATION TECHNIQUES. APPLICATION OF CUTTING-EDGE GENE EDITING AND ADVANCED PLANT TRANSFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES PROVIDES AN AVENUE TO PRODUCE AND STUDY THE PATTERNS THAT LEAD TO DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES IN A HIGH-THROUGHPUT FASHION. USING GENES INVOLVED WITH REGULATING PLANT DEVELOPMENT HAS ALLOWED FOR THE GENERATION OF MODIFIED GERMPLASM OF PLANTS IN A STREAMLINED FASHION. BY APPLYING THOSE METHODS TO SUNFLOWER, CULTIVARS WITH MUTATED VERSIONS OF CANDIDATE GENES CAN BE CREATED. WITH THESE ASSEMBLIES OF MUTATED SUNFLOWERS, GROUPS OF LOCI AND THEIR UNDERLYING CONTRIBUTION TO ANY PHENOTYPIC VARIANCE CAN BE DETERMINED. THEREFORE, BY USING MODERN GENE EDITING TECHNIQUES AND NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING, THE COMBINATORIAL ROLES OF CANDIDATE DOMESTICATION LOCI CAN BE DETERMINED AND USED TO ESTABLISH PRINCIPLES ABOUT QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI EVOLUTION. IN TURN, THE INSIGHTS RELATED TO THOSE TRAIT LOCI CAN BE THEN USED AS A BASIS FOR IMPROVED SUNFLOWER CULTIVAR ENGINEERING TO SERVE USES AS FOOD PRODUCTS OR ORNAMENTAL PLANTS.