Twenty two years after publication, more is known:
A study published this week in the journal Science sequenced the almond genome and shows that a single genetic mutation "turned off" the ability to make the toxic compound thousands of years ago — a key step before humans could domesticate almonds.
"Wild almonds are bitter and lethal, even in tiny amounts, because [they have] this amygdalin," says study co-author Stefano Pavan, a professor in agricultural genetics and plant breeding at the University of Bari in Italy. (Pavan's primary co-author was Raquel Sánchez-Pérez, a senior biochemistry researcher at CEBAS-CSIC, an agricultural research center in Spain.) "This mutation is very important because it's the mutation that allowed almond domestication."
Mutation of a bHLH transcription factor allowed almond domestication - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav8197