Corn Root Traits Evolved With Both Human-Driven and Natural Environmental Changes, Study Shows

By Jeff Mulhollem

Corn was domesticated from its ancestor teosinte in central Mexico beginning about 9,000 years ago by humans selectively breeding the wild plant, transforming its small, hard-shelled kernels into the large, palatable ears of corn we know today. Over the centuries, root traits of corn—now the most widely planted crop in the U.S., and second globally (by acreage)—evolved in response to both changing environmental conditions and human agricultural practices.

Because the role of roots in crop domestication in response to shifting circumstances remains unclear—and because it may be relevant to the present when a warming climate is stressing corn and other crops—a team of researchers led by Penn State plant scientists conducted a study to understand how root traits evolved during corn domestication.