Tracing the Development of Corn

Native Americans developed modern corn from a grassy relative, teosinte in a period of agricultural selection between 6000 and 10,000 years ago. Using population genetics to compare the genes of teosinte and modern cultivated corn, a research team led by UC Irvine's Brandon Gaut, has identified 1200 of the 59,000 genes in the corn genome that are thought to have been targeted during domestication.

Genetic analysis conducted by Gaut and his team gives science insight into the domestication of the crop. The work appears to confirm the idea that in the domestication process a significant portion of the genetic diversity of corn was lost. The research will aid plant breeders in developing new varieties of corn and provide a framework for study of the domestication of other crops.

Links:

• Scientists Trace Corn Ancestry from Ancient Grass to Modern Crop from PhysOrg.com


• Picking the Perfect Ear of Corn—for More than 6,000 Years from the Agricultural Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 5:02 PM on July 6, 2005

Want to talk about this weblog entry? As of August 22, 2006, all new entries and most older entries are cross-posted to the UBC Botanical Garden Discussion Forums for discussion (you might need to use the search function to find the thread you are looking for).

This is an effort to reduce the amount of time spent dealing with spam (the forums are very good at stopping spam, the weblog commenting system is not so good).

Older entries already containing comments remain open for discussion.