title: Genetic, evolutionary and plant breeding insights from the domestication of maize.
abstract: The natural history of maize began nine thousand years ago when Mexican farmers started to collect the seeds of the wild grass, teosinte. Invaluable as a food source, maize permeated Mexican culture and religion. Its domestication eventually led to its adoption as a model organism, aided in large part by its large chromosomes, ease of pollination and growing agricultural importance. Genome comparisons between varieties of maize, teosinte and other grasses are beginning to identify the genes responsible for the domestication of modern maize and are also providing ideas for the breeding of more hardy varieties.
authors: Plant Gene Expression Center, US Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service, Albany, United States and Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Hake
authors: Department of Plant Sciences, Center for Population Biology and Genome Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States.
authors: Jeffrey
authors: J
authors: Ross-Ibarra
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D000069600:Plant Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development
keywords: domestication; evolutionary biology; genomics; maize; plant biology; teosinte; the natural history of model organisms