Rutgers University, New Jersey
October 13, 2004
Milestone in maize genomics
Rutgers researchers, with the support of the U.S.
National Science Foundation,
have pushed back the frontiers on the genetic nature and history
one of the world’s most important crops – corn. This crop
dominates agriculture in the United States, where approximately
9 billion bushels are produced annually at a value of $30
billion. Maize (or corn) is also an important dietary staple in
much of the third world.
Rutgers University’ Joachim Messing and his colleagues
announced this month discoveries about the inner workings of
corn, its origins and evolution, with implications for breeding,
genetic engineering and future genomic studies.
"This latest research, conducted with worldwide collaborations,
led us to a new understanding of maize that will help enable
scientists and farmers to make major improvements in one of the
world’s most significant crops and gain new and important
insights in plant genomic studies," said Messing, director of
the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey. The findings are presented in three
papers in the journal Genome Research and one in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
The scientists conducted the most comprehensive survey of the
maize genome ever performed and established for the first time
the genome’s magnitude – approximately 59,000 genes – and the
relative position of the genes. This is twice as many as the
human genome and the highest number of genes of any genome
sequenced to date. Messing emphasized that this survey is only a
first step and conducting a whole genome sequence is a priority
dictated by nutritional, economic and societal needs.
The research further established that in addition to its immense
size, the corn genome is extremely complex due, in part, to
positional instability as well as its genetic history. Messing
and his colleagues concluded that maize genes are scrambled,
having moved around to different locations throughout the genome
– an occurrence unheard of in other species, including the human
genome. This has important implications for genetic engineering.
"An argument often cited against the introduction of external
genes, a common practice in genetic engineering, suggests that
it would create an unnatural instability in the genome," said
Messing. "With all the maize genes moving around by themselves
in nature, perhaps conveying some selective advantage in doing
so, this argument is unfounded."
Through sophisticated computational analysis, the researchers
concluded that today’s corn is the product of two very closely
related ancestral species that no longer exist. About 5 million
years ago the species crossed and, in doing so, doubled the
number of genes. Through mechanisms not yet revealed, many of
these genes were shed and then others duplicated through gene
amplification as this process is termed.
When compared to closely related species today, the researchers
found that as much as 22 percent of the maize genes could be
identified as being different. This was surprising, considering
that other close relatives – such as chimpanzees and humans –
differ in less than one percent of their genes.
"It looks like significant evolutionary change happened in a
relatively short time," said Messing. "Because they are
immobile, plants have to adapt to changes more rapidly than
animals that can move to escape environmental impacts. Plants
are continually faced with a variety of seasonal challenges and
assaults by a series of different pests which may well lead to
evolution on a fast track."
While the findings offered in the four newly published papers
provide exciting, new glimpses into the nature of maize, Messing
stressed the need for the completion of a whole genome sequence,
a more detailed analysis of gene expression in maize, and a
better understanding of its genetic and cellular mechanisms.
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