Ting Zhou

IntroductionModern maize, belonging to the genus Zea, was domesticated in southern Mexico 9000 years ago from wild, annual tropical grasses called teosintes, with the primary ancestor being Parviglumis (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis) which survives today in the wild (Matsuoka et al., 2002). There are additional species of teosintes that continue to grow in the wild in Mexico and Central America includ ...