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Free keywords:
Maize, domestication, genomics, functional genomics, improvement
Abstract:
After being domesticated from teosinte, maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) has spread to be cultivated worldwide and now is one of the most important staple crops. Due to its tremendous phenotypic and genotypic diversity, maize is also one of the widely used model plant species for fundamental research, with many important findings being discovered by maize researchers. Here we overview the history of maize domestication and key genes controlling major domestication-related traits, review the currently available resources for functional genomics study in maize, and discuss the functions of most maize genes that have been positionally cloned and can now be used for crop improvement. Finally, we also provide some perspectives on future directions regarding the functional genomics research and breeding of maize and other crops.
