Selection in the early step of sugar biosynthesis is detected in yam, and previously detected in cereal. This result suggests that key step in starch biosynthesis were necessary both in cereal as well as in root and tuber crops. More interestingly, drastic changes in habitat associated with domestication is certainly retraced in selection in phototropism genes. Selection on dehydrogenase and oxidoreductase activities associated with NADPH DH complex genes, was certainly the consequence of adaptation to optimize photosynthesis in full light. If some convergence is observed at the molecular level, very specific adaptations were necessary for the domestication of African yam. Beyond domestication, this study highlight the molecular mechanism associated with changes from shade-tolerant plant to a full light environment.