Teosinte and the Origin of Maize

Beadle, G. W.

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a104728

Cited by 178 publications

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“…In his Teosinte Hypothesis, Beadle stated that maize is simply a domesticated form of teosinte (6). He believed that, through artificial selection by ancient humans, several mutations with relatively large effects could have transformed teosinte into maize.…”

Section: Origins Of Maizementioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking footprints of maize domestication and evidence for a massive selective sweep on chromosome 10

Tian

Stevens

Buckler

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

134

121

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Maize domestication is one of the greatest feats of artificial selection and evolution, wherein a weedy plant in Central Mexico was converted through human-mediated selection into the most productive crop in the world. In fact, the changes were so astounding that it took much of the last century to identify modern maize's true ancestor. Through modern genetic studies, the molecular basis of this evolution is being unraveled. Maize's new morphology and adaptation to diverse environments required selection at thousands of loci, and we are beginning to understand the magnitude and rates of these genetic changes. Most of the known major genes have experienced strong selection, but only small regions surrounding the selected genes exhibit substantially reduced genetic diversity. Here, we report the discovery of a large region on chromosome 10 involved in adaptation or domestication that has been the target of strong selection during maize domestication. Unlike previously described regions in the maize genome, 1.1 Mb and >15 genes lost genetic diversity during selection at this region. Finally, the prospects of a detailed understanding of maize evolution are discussed with consideration of both top-down and bottom-up approaches.Although man does not cause variability and cannot even prevent it, he can select, preserve, and accumulate the variations given to him by the hand of nature almost in any way that he chooses; and thus he can certainly produce a great result.Charles Darwin (1) W ith its meager ear containing only 2 entwined rows of well-armored kernels, teosinte grows on Mexican hillsides. This grass might easily have been overlooked were it not for its abundant variation, a gift not lost on early agriculturists. Within the last 10,000 years, early Native Americans were able to transform teosinte into a plant whose ears would feed the world. It was a transformation so striking and so complex that some researchers did not believe it was possible, leading to years of competing theories and intense debate. But as Darwin himself recognized, when the desires of humans meet the diversity of nature the result can indeed be astounding.The molecular revolution of the last 2 decades has provided compelling evidence that teosinte is the progenitor of modern maize. Here, we discuss the rich genetic diversity at the source of this morphological conversion and examine how human selection has impacted this diversity. One key question concerning maize domestication remains to be resolved: was maize domestication the result of selection on a small number of loci with large effects, a large number of loci with small effects, or both? Recent genetic evidence has provided clues about the relative contributions of large-effect and small-effect loci. We discuss how future studies will help unravel the mysteries surrounding maize domestication and how this information is key to future improvements of maize.

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Section: Origins Of Maizementioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking footprints of maize domestication and evidence for a massive selective sweep on chromosome 10

Tian

Stevens

Buckler

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

134

121

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“…Traditionally the realm of archeology and botany (1,2), the study of plant domestication has seen important contributions from genetics during the last two decades (3). Genetic data often provide evidence that is hard to obtain by other means, making it an invaluable complement to other lines of inquiry.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic signals of origin, spread, and introgression in a large sample of maize landraces

Heerwaarden

Doebley

Briggs

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

376

354

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The last two decades have seen important advances in our knowledge of maize domestication, thanks in part to the contributions of genetic data. Genetic studies have provided firm evidence that maize was domesticated from Balsas teosinte (Zea mays subspecies parviglumis), a wild relative that is endemic to the mid-to lowland regions of southwestern Mexico. An interesting paradox remains, however: Maize cultivars that are most closely related to Balsas teosinte are found mainly in the Mexican highlands where subspecies parviglumis does not grow. Genetic data thus point to primary diffusion of domesticated maize from the highlands rather than from the region of initial domestication. Recent archeological evidence for early lowland cultivation has been consistent with the genetics of domestication, leaving the issue of the ancestral position of highland maize unresolved. We used a new SNP dataset scored in a large number of accessions of both teosinte and maize to take a second look at the geography of the earliest cultivated maize. We found that gene flow between maize and its wild relatives meaningfully impacts our inference of geographic origins. By analyzing differentiation from inferred ancestral gene frequencies, we obtained results that are fully consistent with current ecological, archeological, and genetic data concerning the geography of early maize cultivation.T he geography of origins and diversification of agricultural species has important implications for unraveling the ecological context of Neolithic societies and for understanding current patterns of diversity in domesticated plants and animals. Traditionally the realm of archeology and botany (1, 2), the study of plant domestication has seen important contributions from genetics during the last two decades (3). Genetic data often provide evidence that is hard to obtain by other means, making it an invaluable complement to other lines of inquiry.As a case in point, molecular markers were instrumental in establishing the single domestication of maize (Zea mays subspecies mays) from an extant wild relative (4, 5). Maize was shown to originate from annual teosinte (Zea mays subspecies parviglumis, hereafter parviglumis) around 9,000 y B.P., placing domestication in the mid-to lowland regions of southwest Mexico where parviglumis grows endemically. As predicted by this result (6), excavations in the heart of parviglumis' distribution have produced the earliest (8,700 y B.P.) phytolith evidence for maize cultivation (7). Other finds from Tabasco (7,300 y B.P.) (8) and Panama (7,400 y B.P.) (9) also support an early presence of maize throughout the Meso-American lowlands.Although different types of evidence seemingly concur, questions nonetheless remain about the interpretation of the genetic data. While unequivocal with respect to maize's wild ancestor, marker evidence suggests that maize from the Mexican highlands, rather than from the lowlands, is most closely related to parviglumis and appears to have given rise to all cultivars currently grown throug...

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“…To increase agricultural productivity, plant breeders have been selecting for advantageous traits in crops since 9000 -10,000 BC (Zohary et al 2012). One notable success is the selective breeding of modern maize from teosinte (Beadle 1939;Doebley 2004), in which a handful of genetic differences caused substantial changes in ear morphology, kernel number, and crop yield.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthetic Botany

Boehm

Pollak

Purswani³

et al. 2017

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol

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Plants are attractive platforms for synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. Plants' modular and plastic body plans, capacity for photosynthesis, extensive secondary metabolism, and agronomic systems for large-scale production make them ideal targets for genetic reprogramming. However, efforts in this area have been constrained by slow growth, long life cycles, the requirement for specialized facilities, a paucity of efficient tools for genetic manipulation, and the complexity of multicellularity. There is a need for better experimental and theoretical frameworks to understand the way genetic networks, cellular populations, and tissue-wide physical processes interact at different scales. We highlight new approaches to the DNA-based manipulation of plants and the use of advanced quantitative imaging techniques in simple plant models such as Marchantia polymorpha. These offer the prospects of improved understanding of plant dynamics and new approaches to rational engineering of plant traits.

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Teosinte and the Origin of Maize

Cited by 178 publications

References 0 publications

Tracking footprints of maize domestication and evidence for a massive selective sweep on chromosome 10

Tracking footprints of maize domestication and evidence for a massive selective sweep on chromosome 10

Genetic signals of origin, spread, and introgression in a large sample of maize landraces

Synthetic Botany

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