US-Mexico planning visit and workshop to assess the genomic basis of local adaptation in maize

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This project brings together an international team of U.S. and Mexican researchers to investigate the prevalence of local adaption of maize to high elevations. Collaborators have expertise in evolutionary genetics, theoretical population genetics, quantitative trait mapping, and Mexican agro-ecosystems. U.S. students and researchers will travel to Mexico to join an international collaborative team and gain experience in phenotypic data collection and analysis as well as seed genetic mapping. The expected outcomes of the project include both mapping seed populations and analytical software. Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) was domesticated approximately 9000 BP in the lowlands of southwest Mexico from a wild grass known as teosinte (Zea mays ssp. parviglumis). Subsequent to domestication maize was brought to multiple, independent highland regions. These migration events required adaptation to drastically different environmental conditions. In the long-term, collaborators will assess the genomic basis of adaptation to these separate highland regions through population genetic and quantitative trait mapping approaches. These data will provide insight regarding the process of repeated evolution and will potentially identify loci relevant to the tolerance of temperature extremes, an important consideration in the face of climate change.