The Evolution of Corn

[Xipe Totec]

The identity of maize's wild ancestor remained a mystery for many decades. While other grains such as wheat and rice have obvious wild relatives, there is no wild plant that looks like maize, with soft, starchy kernels arranged along a cob. The abrupt appearance of maize in the archaeological record baffled scientists. Evolution was generally thought to occur gradually through minor changes. Why did maize appear so suddenly?

Through the study of genetics, we know today that corn's wild ancestor is a grass called teosinte. Teosinte doesn't look much like maize, especially when you compare its kernals to those of corn. But at the DNA level, the two are surprisingly alike. They have the same number of chromosomes and a remarkably similar arrangement of genes. In fact, teosinte can cross-breed with modern maize varieties to form maize-teosinte hybrids that can go on to reproduce naturally.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/variation/corn/

[pscot]

1. Picture from the article

comparing ears of maize rom primitive to modern:

[Yo_Mama]

2. Extremely interesting, thanks for posting

Corn is one of the great ag achievements of mankind.

[Xipe Totec]

3. This LTTE prompted me to research the topic

The guy who wrote the letter to the editors of Metro Boston this morning seemed not to have a good handle on his facts:

In a nation where biotech and pharmaceuticals are leading the world industry, it’s appalling that there are such academic inaccuracies.

Does anyone understand that scientists aren’t actually piecing together slices of DNA to create frankenfoods? Have you ever heard of corn? That is a naturally occurring genetically-modified organism (as in, it didn’t exist 500 years ago until a random cross-pollination mutation of maize and wheat occurred, and we simply kept growing it.)

When it comes to apples, genetic engineering simply means cross-pollination, and selecting favorable phenotypes (aka physical descriptors). They are specifically selecting the larger (and less flavored) to simply feed more people per apple. Genetic engineering in general isn’t what its namesake and stigma lead most laymen to believe.

Matt Brosnan, via email

http://www.metro.us/newyork/news/voices/2013/09/15/letters-take-a-kinder-look-at-good-old-fashioned-gmos/

I was pretty sure that corn and wheat do not cross-pollinate, and that maize has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years.