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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #368547
Research Project: Characterization of Plant Architectural Genes in Maize for Increased Productivity

Location: Plant Gene Expression Center

Title: Using wild relatives to improve maize

Author
item Hake, Sarah
item RICHARDSON, ANNIS - University Of California

Submitted to: Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/31/2019
Publication Date: 8/16/2019
Citation: Hake, S.C., Richardson, A. 2019. Using wild relatives to improve maize. Science. 364:640-641.

Interpretive Summary: Crosses of maize to its wild ancestor, teosinte, identified critical genetic differences that improve corn when planted under high density.

Technical Abstract: Human-mediated selection allows for the rapid evolution of crops with desired characteristics during domestication. These traits make the crops easier for humans to grow, gather, and eat. The iterative selection process during domestication restricts the diversity available in modern crop varieties for future generations of selection. Wild relatives of modern crops can therefore be a rich resource to mine for useful variants lost during domestication. Maize (Zea mays spp. mays) is one of the world's staple food and energy crops. The ancestor of maize, teosinte (Zea mays spp. parviglumis), grows in the wild in Mexico and can be crossed with maize. Tian et al. elegantly use the genetic diversity in teosinte to discover a useful genetic sequence that can directly increase maize yields in field conditions. This suggests that redomestication of crops may identify other useful traits hidden in crop ancestors.