TY - JOUR
T1 - Genome Sequence of a 5,310-Year-Old Maize Cob Provides Insights into the Early Stages of Maize Domestication
AU - Ramos Madrigal, Jazmín
AU - Smith, Bruce D.
AU - Moreno-Mayar, J. Víctor
AU - Gopalakrishnan, Shyam
AU - Ross-Ibarra, Jeffrey
AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
AU - Wales, Nathan
PY - 2016/12/5
Y1 - 2016/12/5
N2 - The complex evolutionary history of maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays) has been clarified with genomic-level data from modern landraces and wild teosinte grasses [1, 2], augmenting archaeological findings that suggest domestication occurred between 10,000 and 6,250 years ago in southern Mexico [3, 4]. Maize rapidly evolved under human selection, leading to conspicuous phenotypic transformations, as well as adaptations to varied environments [5]. Still, many questions about the domestication process remain unanswered because modern specimens do not represent the full range of past diversity due to abandonment of unproductive lineages, genetic drift, on-going natural selection, and recent breeding activity. To more fully understand the history and spread of maize, we characterized the draft genome of a 5,310-year-old archaeological cob excavated in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico. We compare this ancient sample against a reference panel of modern landraces and teosinte grasses using D statistics, model-based clustering algorithms, and multidimensional scaling analyses, demonstrating the specimen derives from the same source population that gave rise to modern maize. We find that 5,310 years ago, maize in the Tehuacan Valley was on the whole genetically closer to modern maize than to its wild counterpart. However, many genes associated with key domestication traits existed in the ancestral state, sharply contrasting with the ubiquity of derived alleles in living landraces. These findings suggest much of the evolution during domestication may have been gradual and encourage further paleogenomic research to address provocative questions about the world's most produced cereal.
AB - The complex evolutionary history of maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays) has been clarified with genomic-level data from modern landraces and wild teosinte grasses [1, 2], augmenting archaeological findings that suggest domestication occurred between 10,000 and 6,250 years ago in southern Mexico [3, 4]. Maize rapidly evolved under human selection, leading to conspicuous phenotypic transformations, as well as adaptations to varied environments [5]. Still, many questions about the domestication process remain unanswered because modern specimens do not represent the full range of past diversity due to abandonment of unproductive lineages, genetic drift, on-going natural selection, and recent breeding activity. To more fully understand the history and spread of maize, we characterized the draft genome of a 5,310-year-old archaeological cob excavated in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico. We compare this ancient sample against a reference panel of modern landraces and teosinte grasses using D statistics, model-based clustering algorithms, and multidimensional scaling analyses, demonstrating the specimen derives from the same source population that gave rise to modern maize. We find that 5,310 years ago, maize in the Tehuacan Valley was on the whole genetically closer to modern maize than to its wild counterpart. However, many genes associated with key domestication traits existed in the ancestral state, sharply contrasting with the ubiquity of derived alleles in living landraces. These findings suggest much of the evolution during domestication may have been gradual and encourage further paleogenomic research to address provocative questions about the world's most produced cereal.
KW - ancient DNA
KW - archaeobotany
KW - archaeology
KW - domestication
KW - maize
KW - paleogenomics
KW - teosinte
KW - Zea mays
KW - Selection, Genetic
KW - DNA, Plant/genetics
KW - Genome, Plant
KW - Crops, Agricultural/genetics
KW - Zea mays/genetics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85003946012&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.036
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.036
M3 - Article
C2 - 27866890
AN - SCOPUS:85003946012
SN - 0960-9822
VL - 26
SP - 3195
EP - 3201
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
IS - 23
ER -
