The ionome, or elemental profile, of a maize kernel can be viewed in at least two distinct ways. First, the collection of elements within the kernel are food and feed for people and animals. Second, the ionome of the kernel represents a developmental end point that can summarize the life history of a plant, combining genetic programs and environmental interactions. We assert that single-kernel-based phenotyping of the ionome is an effective method of analysis, as it represents a reasonable compromise between precision, efficiency, and power. Here, we evaluate potential pitfalls of this sampling strategy using several field-grown maize sample sets. We demonstrate that there is enough genetically determined diversity in accumulation of many of the elements assayed to overcome potential artifacts. Further, we demonstrate that environmental signals are detectable through their influence on the kernel ionome. We conclude that using single kernels as the sampling unit is a valid approach for understanding genetic and environmental effects on the maize kernel ionome.

Regarding cross-modality research, taste-aroma interaction is one of the most studied areas of research. Some studies have reported enhancement of sweetness by aroma, although it is unclear as to whether these effects actually occur: depending on the cognitive strategy employed by panelists, the effects may disappear, e.g., forcing panelists into an analytical strategy to control for dumping may not be able to reveal perceptual interactions. Previous studies have largely focused on solutions and model foods, and did not test stimuli or concentrations relevant to real food applications. This study addresses these gaps: 18 vanilla flavored sucrose milks, varying between 0–0.75% (w/w) two-fold vanilla, and 0–5% (w/w) sucrose, were rated by 108 panelists for liking and perceived sweetness, vanilla flavor, milk flavor, and thickness. Interactions between vanilla and sucrose were measured using deviations of real mixtures from additive models (via the isobole method), indicating vanilla aroma does enhance perceived sweetness. However, the sweetness enhancing effect of vanilla aroma was not as pronounced as that of sucrose on vanilla flavor. Measurable cross-modal interactions occur despite using an analytical cognitive strategy. More work is needed to investigate the influence of perceptual strategy on the degree of taste-aroma interactions in real foods.

Plants obtain soil-resident elements that support growth and metabolism from the water-flow facilitated by transpiration and active transport processes. The availability of elements in the environment interacts with the genetic capacity of organisms to modulate element uptake through plastic adaptive responses, such as homeostasis. These interactions should cause the elemental contents of plants to vary such that the effects of genetic polymorphisms will be dramatically dependent on the environment in which the plant is grown. To investigate genotype by environment interactions underlying elemental accumulation, we analyzed levels of elements in maize kernels of the Intermated B73 · Mo17 (IBM) recombinant inbred population grown in 10 different environments, spanning a total of six locations and five different years. In analyses conducted separately for each environment, we identified a total of 79 quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling seed elemental accumulation. While a set of these QTL was found in multiple environments, the majority were specific to a single environment, suggesting the presence of genetic by environment interactions. To specifically identify and quantify QTL by environment interactions (QEIs), we implemented two methods: linear modeling with environmental covariates, and QTL analysis on trait differences between growouts. With these approaches, we found several instances of QEI, indicating that elemental profiles are highly heritable, interrelated, and responsive to the environment.The intake, transport, and storage of elements are key processes underlying plant growth and survival. A plant must balance mineral levels to prevent accumulation of toxic concentrations of elements, while taking up essential elements for growth. Food crops must strike similar balances to provide healthy nutrient contents of edible tissues. Adaptation to variation in soil, water, and temperature requires that plant genomes encode flexible regulation of mineral physiology to achieve homeostasis (McDowell et al. 2013). This regulation must be responsive to both the availability of each regulated element in the environment and the levels of these elements at the sites of use within the plant. Understanding how the genome encodes responses to element limitation or toxic excess in nutrient-poor or contaminated soils will help to achieve targeted crop improvements and sustain our rapidly growing human population (Cobb et al. 2013).The concentrations of elements in a plant sample provide a useful read-out for the environmental, genetic, and physiological processes important for plant adaptation. We and others developed highthroughput and inexpensive pipelines to detect and quantitate 20 different elemental concentrations by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This process, termed ionomics, is the quantitative study of the complete set of mineral nutrients and trace elements in an organism (its ionome) (Lahner et al. 2003). In crop plants such as maize and soybean, seed element profiles mak...

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