VATIS UPDATE Article

A new study done by researchers at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the United States, analyzed close to 4,500 maize varieties – called landraces – bred and grown by farmers from 35 countries in the Americas to identify more than 1,000 genes driving large-scale adaptation to the environment. “The study provided a powerful catalog of the genes necessary for corn to adapt to different latitudes and elevations across the world,” said Edward Buckler at USDA-ARS.

The researchers also identified genes associated with flowering time – the period between planting and the emergence of flowers, which is a measure of the rate of development. Flowering time is a basic mechanism through which plants integrate environmental information to balance when to make seeds instead of more leaves. The study found that more than half of single nucleotide polymorphisms (the most basic form of genetic variation) associated with altitude were also associated with flowering time, revealing these traits are highly linked.

Current technology, including a new rapid experimental design called F-One Association Mapping (FOAM), allowed the researchers to use the collection of diverse maize varieties to figure out which genes were important for adaptation. “With global climate change over the next century, we can directly use this information to figure out what genes are important” to greatly speed up breeding efforts of maize, Buckler said.