An Overview
Maize (corn) is a globally important agricultural crop, with a worldwide production of over 602 million tons for the year of 2002. It is also the most important agricultural crop in the United States. Maize dominates American agriculture. It is planted on roughly 70-80 million US acres annually, producing approximately 9 million bushels. More than 228 million tons of maize were grown in the United States during 2002, a scale over twice that of any other crop[1]. Maize products produce over $30 billion annually, through varied uses including food and feed, rubber, plastic, fuel and clothing[2]. Maize is also a classical system for studying genome structure, function and heritability.
It is generally agreed that teosinte (Z. mexicana), an ancient wild grass found in Mexico and Guatemala, is an ancestor of maize. During its domestication from teosinte, maize has gained many agronomically significant attributes. John Doebley has a nice set of photographs illustrating the dramatic difference between teosinte and corn which can be viewed here. A broad understanding of the genes present in maize will provide a foundation for improving maize and other cereal crops by influencing yield increases, boosting insect and pathogen resistance, enhancing or augmenting environmental adaptability, influencing nutritional contents and tailoring crops to suit modern agriculture needs.
Gene isolation is often a precursor to understanding the relationship between genes and traits, and then applying this knowledge to crop improvement. The most comprehensive method to identify the gene complement of a given organism is through whole genome sequence. Several genome sequencing projects aimed at identifying the complete set of genetic instructions have been completed, or are underway in several organisms, and current and future studies are directed at determining the developmental and biological function behind the gene elements in the genome.
[1] http://apps.fao.org
[2]
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~usda-gem/corn.html
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