Two genetic linkage maps of cultivated maize inbred lines and teosinte species were constructed. One population comprised 81 F(2) individuals derived from a cross between maize inbred line B73 and Zea mays ssp parviglumis, while the second consisted of 63 backcross individuals from a cross of maize inbred line B73 with Z. mays ssp diploperennis. In the B73 x Z. mays ssp parviglumis F(2) p...

A gene co-expression network (GEN) was generated using a dual RNA-seq study with the fungal pathogen Aspergillus flavus and its plant host Zea mays during the initial 3 days of infection. The analysis deciphered novel pathways and mapped genes of interest in both organisms during the infection. This network revealed a high degree of connectivity in many of the previously recognized pathways in ...

An average of 14(7-34) plants each for 61 different collections of Zea (maize and its wild relatives, the teosintes) were studied for 12 enzyme systems coded for by 21 loci. Principal component and cluster analyses based on allele frequencies showed Zea can be divided into two major groups: 1) sect. Luxuriantes, including Z. perennis, Z. diploperennis, and Z. luxurians; and 2) sect. Zea (in par...

Ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were used to evaluate the phylogenetics of Zea and Tripsacum. Maximum likelihood and polymorphism parsimony were used for phylogenetic reconstructions. Zea ITS nucleotide diversity was high compared to other plant species, but approximately equivalent to other maize loci. Coalescence of ITS alleles was rapid relative to other nuclear loci; h...

We investigated the extent of Sb uptake by maize (Zea mays) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus) from nutrient solutions containing concentrations from 3 to 24 mg/L of potassium antimonate, with the aim of determining the potential of Sb to enter the food chain. The maximum shoot Sb concentrations in Z. mays and H. annuus were 41 mg/kg and 77 mg/kg dry weight, respectively. There was no significan...

Landraces of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and its wild teosinte relatives (Zea mays spp. parviglumis and mexicana) were surveyed for sensitivity to fumonisin B(1), a phytotoxin produced by the maize pathogen Gibberella moniliformis. Only two of 42 Z. mays samples were highly insensitive to FB(1) (ED(50) = ca. 200 microM). The teosintes and 76% of the maize landraces were moderately or highly sens...

The grass genus Zea contains the domesticate maize and several wild taxa indigenous to Central and South America. Here we study the genetic consequences of speciation and domestication in this group by sampling DNA sequences from four taxa-maize (Zea mays ssp. mays), its wild progenitor (Z. mays ssp. parviglumis), a more distant species within the genus (Z. luxurians), and a representative of t...

BACKGROUND Zea mays L. (Z. mays) has been used for human consumption in the various forms of meal, cooking oil, thickener in sauces and puddings, sweetener in processed food and beverage products, bio-disel. However, especially, in case of husk extract of Z. mays, little is known about its anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, in this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of Z. mays husk extract...

Here, we characterized silicon (Si) uptake and xylem loading in Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Helianthus annuus and Benincase hispida in a series of hydroponic experiments. Both active and passive Si-uptake components co-exist in all the plants tested. The active component is the major mechanism responsible for Si uptake in O. sativa and Z. mays. By contrast, passive uptake prevails in H. annuus and ...

The closest wild relatives of maize, Zea mays ssp. mays are various Zea taxa known as "teosinte." Hybrids between maize and the teosinte taxon, Zea mays ssp. mexicana, often occur when the 2 are sympatric in Mexico. Measuring the spontaneous hybridization rate of the 2 taxa would shed light on the mechanisms contributing to the evolution and persistence of these hybrid swarms. We conducted a se...