How corn came to be
(PhysOrg.com) -- Corn, as we know it, didnt always exist. A Brigham Young University biology professor published a new study that identified the functions of a gene that may have helped transform a...
View ArticleJumping gene enabled key step in corn domestication
Corn split off from its closest relative teosinte, a wild Mexican grass, about 10,000 years ago thanks to the breeding efforts of early Mexican farmers. Today it's hard to tell that the two plants were...
View ArticleGreenhouse 'time machine' sheds light on corn domestication
A grass called teosinte is thought to be the ancestor of corn, but it doesn't look much like corn at all. Smithsonian scientists were surprised to find that teosinte planted in growth chambers under...
View ArticleTiny genetic tweak unlocked corn kernels during domestication
If not for a single genetic mutation, each kernel on a juicy corn cob would be trapped inside a inedible casing as tough as a walnut shell. The mutation switches one amino acid for another at a...
View ArticleStudy shows how a kernel got naked and corn became king
Ten thousand years ago, a golden grain got naked, brought people together and grew to become one of the top agricultural commodities on the planet.
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