Get ready for a maize of puns

corn by shaferlens
Amaizing: Corn genome decoded:
[Via Eureka! Science News – Popular science news]

In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled.

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Sweet corn story begins in UW-Madison lab:
[Via Eureka! Science News – Popular science news]

This week, scientists are revealing the genetic instructions inside corn, one of the big three cereal crops. Corn, or maize, has one of the most complex sequences of DNA ever analyzed, says University of Wisconsin-Madison genomicist David Schwartz, who was one of more than 100 authors in the article in the journal Science.

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New maize map to aid plant breeding efforts:
[Via Eureka! Science News – Popular science news]

In a massive survey of genetic diversity in maize, also known as corn, researchers across the United States, have developed a gene map that should pave the way to significant improvements in a plant that is a major source of food, fuel, animal feed and fiber around the world.

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New map of variation in maize genetics holds promise for developing new varieties:
[Via Eureka! Science News – Popular science news]

A new study of maize has identified thousands of diverse genes in genetically inaccessible portions of the genome. New techniques may allow breeders and researchers to use this genetic variation to identify desirable traits and create new varieties that were not easily possible before.

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Lots of corn stories today because Science published a major paper on the maize genome. This is of real interest because corn, probably more than any other domesticated food, is highly altered from its natural form. Mankind has spent thousands of years modifying this grain.

So we have several major papers. The B73 Maize Genome: Complexity, Diversity, and Dynamics. A First-Generation Haplotype Map of Maize. Paternal Dominance of Trans-eQTL Influences Gene Expression Patterns in Maize Hybrids. The Palomero Genome Suggests Metal Effects on Domestication.

So it will interesting to see what genetic effects have been made during this domestication.The last paper looks at some of the changes that occurred.

Looks like I have lots to read this weekend.

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