Scientific name: Zea mays
Common name(s): Corn; Maize
Name as shown in Phylogenes: Corn
Ploidy: Diploid (2x)
Description:
Zea mays, commonly known as corn or maize, is a cereal grass of the Poaceae family, and one of the most widely grown crops. It is a significant food source for humans and animals and its derivatives (oil, sugar) are are found in a wide variety of products. It is native to the Americas where it was first domesticated over 10,000 years ago.
Maize has a long established history as an genetic experimental system leading to important discoveries about evolution of development, transposon biology, paramutation. Analysis of the maize genome and comparison with related grasses such as rice and sorghum indicates that maize underwent a whole genome duplication event about million years ago and that subsequently many duplicated genes have been lost in the maize lineage.
Reference(s):
Schnable PS, et al. The B73 maize genome: complexity, diversity, and dynamics. Science. 2009 Nov 20;326(5956):1112-5. doi: 10.1126/science.
Genome Database(s):