TY - JOUR TI - Genetic, evolutionary and plant breeding insights from the domestication of maize AU - Hake, Sarah AU - Ross-Ibarra, Jeffrey VL - 4 PY - 2015 DA - 2015/03/25 SP - e05861 C1 - eLife 2015;4:e05861 DO - 10.7554/eLife.05861 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05861 AB - The natural history of maize began nine thousand years ago when Mexican farmers started to collect the seeds of the wild grass, teosinte. Invaluable as a food source, maize permeated Mexican culture and religion. Its domestication eventually led to its adoption as a model organism, aided in large part by its large chromosomes, ease of pollination and growing agricultural importance. Genome comparisons between varieties of maize, teosinte and other grasses are beginning to identify the genes responsible for the domestication of modern maize and are also providing ideas for the breeding of more hardy varieties. KW - the natural history of model organism KW - maize KW - teosinte KW - domestication JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -