12/06/2024
Between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, Indigenous plant breeders living in what is now Mexico began domesticating a grain called teosinte. By around 4,500 years ago, they had distributed a plant recognizable as corn across the Americas.
Teosinte is a tall grass. Female plants produce "ears" only a few inches long with less than a dozen kernels encased in a hard coating.
Through selection for desirable traits, Indigenous plant breeders developed ancient teosinte into what we know as maize, or corn, today. Modern scientists estimate that selections were made that affected more than 1,200 genes of maize's 59,000 total genes.
Image credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation
Thanks for the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program for this great post!
