Amazing grass: developmental genetics of maize domestication

Abstract

Crop plants were domesticated by prehistoric farmers through artificial selection to provide a means of feeding the human population. This article discusses the developmental genetics of crop domestication and improvement, including the historical framework and recent approaches in maize and other grasses. In many cases, selecting for a plant form that correlates with productivity involves controlling meristem activity. In the domestication of modern maize from its progenitor Zea mays ssp. parviglumis, QTL (quantitative trait loci) mapping, genetics and population genomics approaches have identified several genes that contain signatures of selection. Only a few genes involved in the derivation of the highly productive maize ear have been identified, including teosinte glume architecture1 and ramosa1. Future prospects hinge on forward and reverse genetics, as well as on other approaches from the developing discipline of evo-devo (evolutionary developmental biology).

RAPD and Internal Transcribed Spacer Sequence Analyses Reveal Zea nicaraguensis as a Section Luxuriantes Species Close to Zea luxurians

“…In conclusion, the genetic relationships among Zea species were reported in many previous studies on the basis of morphological, cytogenetical, chemical, and molecular data [4]. The present work provided the first molecular evidence for systematic assessment of genetic relationship of Z. nicaraguensis in Zea species.…”

“…In genus Zea , both wild taxa that have the common name “teosinte” and cultivated maize are diploid (n = 10) with the exception of tetraploid Z. perennis (n = 20). As the closest wild relative of maize, teosinte, which is indigenous to Mexico and Central America [4], is a potentially important resource for the study of maize genetics and evolution and for plant breeding.…”

Conservation and Diversity of Seed Associated Endophytes in Zea across Boundaries of Evolution, Ethnography and Ecology

“…Maize was domesticated in southern Mexico from wild teosinte grasses [10] and subsequently became absolutely dependent on humans to propagate [46]. Despite 9,000 years of divergent selection and breeding by indigenous peoples and modern breeders, we observed that maize seeds have maintained a shared set of associated bacteria with their wild ancestors and with one another.…”

Localization of causal locus in the genome of the brown macroalga Ectocarpus: NGS-based mapping and positional cloning approaches

“…They consist in measuring the genetic linkage between the mutated locus and a set of known polymorphic markers. The principle of genetic linkage, which requires the analysis of an offspring population generated from the mutant organism, has been established more than one century ago (Sturtevant, 1913 ) and was successfully used in developmental studies in animals and plants (Vollbrecht and Sigmon, 2005 ). It relies on the frequency of the recombination events (cross-overs) during the meiotic stage: the closest to the mutation one marker, the lowest the number of recombination between these two loci in the progeny (Figure 1 ).…”