http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. An international group of anthropologists offers a new theory about the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States and the impact it had. http://www.physorg.com/news179511725.html Other Sciences Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:22:37 EST news179511725 Maize is an important crop in many countries of the world. It is widely used for human consumption, animal feed, and industrial materials. It also is considered an exemplar plant species for studying domestication, molecular evolution, and genome architecture. http://www.physorg.com/news177863490.html Biology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:33:54 EST news177863490 (PhysOrg.com) -- A four-year, multi-institutional effort co-led by three Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientists culminated today in publication of a landmark series of papers in the journal Science revealing in unprecedented detail the DNA sequence of maize (Zea mays). Maize, or corn, as it is commonly called by North American consumers, is one of the world's most important plants and the most valuable agricultural crop grown in the United States, representing $47 billion in annual value. http://www.physorg.com/news177862596.html Biology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:17:17 EST news177862596 An analysis of three and half decades of maize research in African farming communities finds big benefits. A multi-country study, in Agricultural Economics, reports the significant role international maize research plays in reducing poverty. It finds that since the mid-1990s, more than one million people per year have escaped poverty through the adoption of new maize varieties. http://www.physorg.com/news175951762.html Biology Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:29:48 EST news175951762 Deer stew, roast of wild boar, venison ragout - come fall, all varieties of game are in season for gourmets. However, ever since the worldwide surge in genetically modified corn, critical consumers' appetites have abated somewhat. After all, it was not clear precisely how wild animals digest transgenic corn and whether or not residues actually accumulate in meat, for example. Molecular biologists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have shown that there is no need for concern - also with regard to the inadvertent dispersal of genetically modified corn via wild animal feces. http://www.physorg.com/news175792791.html Biology Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:10:01 EST news175792791 Understanding the evolution and domestication of maize has been a holy grail for many researchers. As one of the most important crops worldwide and as a crop that appears very different from its wild relatives as a result of domestication, understanding exactly how maize has evolved has many practical benefits and may help to improve crop yields. http://www.physorg.com/news173715396.html Biology Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:30:03 EST news173715396 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new tool developed by scientists at The University of Manchester will allow farmers to see under the soil to check how efficiently crop roots are using water and nutrients. http://www.physorg.com/news169143345.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:40:01 EST news169143345 A longstanding and fruitful collaboration between researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, together with contributions from colleagues in Munich and the US, has produced another first: the successful manipulation of a crop plant to emit a signal that attracts beneficial organisms. http://www.physorg.com/news168539528.html Biology Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:20:01 EST news168539528 A genetically modified strain of maize, banned in some EU countries, poses no risk to health or the environment, the European Food Safety Authority declared Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news165575297.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:09:11 EST news165575297 Maize was domesticated from its wild ancestor more than 8700 years according to biological evidence uncovered by researchers in the Mexico's Central Balsas River Valley. This is the earliest dated evidence -- by 1200 years -- for the presence and use of domesticated maize. http://www.physorg.com/news157047461.html Other Sciences Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:19:18 EST news157047461 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) professor David Jackson, Ph.D., and a team of plant geneticists have identified a gene essential in controlling development of the maize plant, commonly known in the United States as corn. The new research extends the growing biological understanding of how the different parts of maize arise--important information for a plant that is the most widely planted crop in the U.S. and a mainstay of the global food supply. http://www.physorg.com/news141479710.html Biology Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:55:10 EST news141479710 Scientists have discovered why one of the world's most important agricultural diseases emerged, according to research published in the September issue of the Journal of General Virology. Maize streak virus (MSV) causes the main virus disease of Africa's most important food crop. By comparing the genome of the virus to those of its less harmful relatives, scientists have discovered how and why MSV became a serious pest and spread so rapidly across Africa. http://www.physorg.com/news138435226.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:13:46 EST news138435226 Dr. Sarah Hake and her colleagues, George Chuck, Hector Candela-Anton, Nathalie Bolduc, Jihyun Moon, Devin O'Connor, China Lunde, and Beth Thompson, have taken advantage of the information from sequenced grass genomes to study how the reproductive structures of maize are formed. Dr. Hake, of the Plant Gene Expression Center, USDA-ARS, who is the 2007 recipient of the Stephen Hales Prize, will be presenting this work at the opening Awards Symposium of the annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists in Mérida, Mexico (June 27, 3:10 PM). http://www.physorg.com/news133664721.html Biology Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:05:21 EST news133664721 Maize was first domesticated in the highlands of Mexico about 10,000 years ago and is now one of the most important crop plants in the world. It is a member of the grass family, which also hosts the world's other major crops including rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, and sugar cane. As early agriculturalists selected plants with desirable traits, they were also selecting genes important for transforming a wild grass into a food plant. Since that time, Mexican farmers have created thousands of varieties suitable for cultivation in the numerous environments in the Mexican landscape -from dry, temperate highlands to moist, tropical lowlands. Because of its importance as food, the need to improve yield, and the challenges presented by changing climate, the maize genome of the B73 cultivar is being sequenced. However, because maize has a complex genome and many varieties, the genome sequence from just one variety will not be adequate to represent the diversity of maize worldwide. Mexican scientists are also sequencing and analyzing the genomes of the ancient landraces to recapture the full genetic diversity of this complex and adaptable crop. http://www.physorg.com/news133663767.html Biology Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:49:27 EST news133663767