Maize streak virus (MSV), which causes maize streak disease (MSD), is one of the most serious biotic threats to African food security. Here, we use whole MSV genomes sampled over 30 years to estimate the dates of key evolutionary events in the 500 year association of MSV and maize. The substitution rates implied by our analyses agree closely with those estimated previously in controlled MSV evo...

Waxy maize (Zea mays L. var. certaina Kulesh), with many excellent characters in terms of starch composition and economic value, has grown in China for a long history and its production has increased dramatically in recent decades. However, the evolution and origin of waxy maize still remains unclear. We studied the genetic diversity of Chinese waxy maize including typical landraces and inbred ...

The annual Zea mays ssp. mexicana L. is a member of teosinte, a wild relative of the Zea mays spp. mays L. This subspecies has strong growth and regeneration ability, high tiller numbers, high protein and lysine content as well as resistance to many fungal diseases, and it can be effectively used in maize improvement. In this study, we reported a Zea mays ssp. mexicana L. transcriptome by mergi...

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) purified from maize (Zea mays L.) leaves associates with maize leaf chloroplast membrane in vitro. The binding of PEPC to the membrane results in enzyme inactivation. A protein isolated from a maize leaf chloroplast membrane preparation inactivated PEPC. Treatment with membrane preparation or with partially purified inactivating protein accelerates PEPC in...

The establishment and survival of western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, was evaluated on transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner maize, Zea mays L., expressing the mCry3A protein (MIR604) and non-Bt maize with the same genetic background (isoline maize) at different stages of development in 2007 and 2008. Overall, western corn rootworm larval recovery, root damage, a...

Cytosolic isozymes of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase were purified from roots of maize (Zea mays L.). The final preparation contained two 55-kD proteins. Affinity-purified dehydrogenases from a maize line that is null for both cytosolic 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase isozymes (Pgd1-null, Pgd2-null) lacked the 55-kD proteins. The substrate kinetics of the purified enzyme were determined.

As part of a project to identify novel maize (Zea mays L. cv B73) genes functionally, we have partially sequenced 130 randomly selected clones from a maize leaf cDNA library. Data base comparisons revealed seven previously sequenced maize cDNAs and 18 cDNAs with sequence similarity to related maize genes or to genes from other organisms. One hundred five cDNAs show little or no similarity to pr...

Intact chloroplasts of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), and maize (Zea mays L.) mesophyll cells contained 0.33, 0.50, and 0.14% of bound hexosamine on a protein basis, respectively. Undifferentiated maize chloroplasts contained 0.19%. Values for chloroplast lamellae were, respectively, 0.16, 0.18, 0.12, and 0.06% and for envelope membranes they were 1.6, 2.5, 3....

Livestock is an important sector of agriculture, but good quality forage is one of the major limiting factors for the growth of this industry. Studies were conducted to compare the forage quality of maize and legumes sown in pure stand and in mixture in randomized complete blocks during 2005 and 2006 at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Maize (Zea mays L.) and three legumes [c...