Cover: Corn: Its Origin, Evolution and Improvement, from Harvard University PressCover: Corn in E-DITION

Corn

Its Origin, Evolution and Improvement

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E-DITION

$65.00 • £54.95 • €60.00

ISBN 9780674421707

Publication Date: 01/01/1974

262 pages

114 halftones, 11 line illustrations, 3 maps, 18 tables

Belknap Press

World

Related Subjects

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  • Introduction
  • 1. The Modern Corn Plant
  • 2. Theories on the Origin of Maize
    • The Pod-Corn Theory
    • The Teosinte Theory
    • The Theory of a Common Ancestry
    • Minor Theories
    • The Tripartite Theory
    • Tripsacum a Hybrid of Maize and Manisuris
    • Geographical Origins
  • 3. Teosinte, the Closest Relative of Maize
    • Historical Records
    • Botanical Relationships
    • Nomenclature and Taxonomy
    • Geographical Distribution
    • Morphology
    • Physiological Characteristics
    • Chemical Analyses
    • Resemblances in Teosinte and Maize Chromosomes
    • Sterility of F1 Hybrids
    • Races of Teosinte
    • Teosinte’s Role in the Origin of Maize
  • 4. The Genetic Nature of Teosinte
    • Early Experiments on Maize–Teosinte Hybrids
    • Crossing over between Maize and Teosinte Chromosomes
    • Linkages of Genetic Differences with Marker Genes
    • Additional Linkage Experiments
    • Genetic Differences between Teosinte Varieties
    • Extracting Blocks of Genes from Teosinte
    • Linkage Relations of Extracted Blocks of Genes
    • A Second Cycle of Transferring Blocks of Genes
    • Polygene Segments as Supergenes
    • Failure to Reconstitute Teosinte
    • Mendelian Segregation in F2 Generations
    • Five Races of Teosinte Analyzed
    • What Is Teosinte?
    • Criticisms of the Theory of the Hybrid Origin of Teosinte
    • Alternative Possibilities
  • 5. Tripsacum, a More Distant Relative of Corn
    • Descriptions of the Species
    • Cytology of Tripsacum Species
    • Crossing Relationships
    • Zea × T. dactyloides (2n)
    • A Comparison of Diploid and Triploid Hybrids of Zea and Tripsacum with the Parental Genera
    • The Progeny of the Triploid Hybrid
    • Crossing Over between Maize and Tripsacum Chromosomes
    • The Trigenomic Hybrid of Zea, Tripsacum, and Teosinte
    • Failure to Hybridize Teosinte × Tripsacum
  • 6. Corn’s Old World Relatives
    • Crossing Relationships
    • Other Andropogoneae Possibly Related to Maize
  • 7. Pod Corn, the Ancestral Form
    • History of Pod Corn
    • An Experimental Verification of an Historical Reference
    • Other Early References
    • Pod Corn on Uniform Genetic Backgrounds
    • Various Expressions of the Pod-Corn Locus
    • Producing a Fertile, True-breeding Pod Corn
    • The Genetically Reconstructed Ancestral Form, the First Model
    • The Reconstructed Ancestral Form in a Simulated Wild Habitat
  • 8. The Nature of the Pod-Corn Locus
    • The Locus Dissected and Reconstructed
    • Postscript to the Dissection Experiment
    • A Comparison of Tu-tu Genotypes in Isogenic Stocks
    • Characteristics of Additional Genotypes at the Tu-tu Locus
    • The Components of Wild Corn
    • Wild Corn a Pod Corn
    • The Genetically Reconstructed Ancestral Form: Later Models
    • A Tuncinate Teosinte
  • 9. Races of Maize
    • Previous Classifications of Maize
    • Other Countries Follow Mexico’s Example
    • The Pointed Popcorns
    • The Sweet Corns
  • 10. The Concept of Lineages
    • Eight-Rowed Corn
    • Kculli
    • The Chapalote-Nal-Tel-Pollo Complex
    • Pira Naranja
    • Chromosome Knobs of Races of Maize
    • Summary
  • 11. The Role of Hybridization in Corn’s Evolution
    • Interracial Hybridization
    • Hybridization of Maize and Teosinte
    • Anatomical Evidence of Teosinte Introgression
    • Archaeological Evidence of Teosinte or Tripsacum Introgression
    • The Evidence of Introgression from Tripsacum
    • Cryptic Genes for Tripsacoid Characteristics in Latin-American Races of Maize
  • 12. Mutations
    • The Mutagenic Effects of Hybridizing Maize and Teosinte
    • Mutations in Long-Inbred Strains of Maize
    • Introgression and Mutation Systems
    • Summary
  • 13. Genetic Drift and Selection
    • Waxy Maize
    • Flour and Sweet Corns
    • Gene Frequencies in Mexico and United States
    • Natural and Artificial Selection
    • Summary
  • 14. Archaeological Evidence of Corn’s Evolution
    • Bat Cave, New Mexico
    • Radiocarbon and Other Dating
    • Bat Cave Revisited
    • La Perra Cave, Northeastern Mexico
    • The Caves of Infiernillo Canyon, Mexico
    • Swallow and Other Caves, Northwestern Mexico
    • Richards’ Caves and Tonto Monument, Arizona
    • Cebollita Cave, New Mexico
    • Spread of an Eight-Rowed Maize from Mexico and the Southwest
    • Summary
  • 15. Prehistoric Wild Corn and Fossil Pollen
    • Remains of Prehistoric Wild Corn
    • Coxcatlan and Purron Caves
    • El Riego Cave
    • San Marcos and Tecorral Caves
    • Cultural Zones and Dating
    • The Remains of Maize
    • The Nature of Wild Corn
    • Early Cultivated Corn
    • Hybridization Plays a Role
    • Corn at the Time of Christ
    • Wild Corn Reconstructed
    • Fossil Pollen
    • Summary
  • 16. Corn in Prehistoric Art
  • 17. Corn’s Spread to the Old World
    • Pre-Columbian Maize in Asia?
    • New “Evidence” on Prehistoric Maize in India
    • Pre-Columbian Corn in Africa?
    • Pre-Columbian Maize in the Phillipines?
    • Pre-Columbian Corn in Europe?
  • 18. The Prehistoric and Modern Improvement of Maize
    • Corn Breeding before Columbus
    • Pre-Columbian Hybridization
    • Corn Breeding in Early Historical Times
    • The Period of the Corn Shows
    • Ear-to-Row Breeding
    • The History of Hybrid Corn
  • 19. The Nature of Heterosis
    • Dominance of Linked Factors
    • Overdominance
    • Epistasis
    • Genic Balance a Factor in Heterosis
    • Heterosis and Genetic Homeostasis
    • Inbreeding Depression in Maize
    • Inbreeding Depression in Popcorns
    • Inbreeding Depression in Teosinte
    • Types of Heterosis in Maize
    • Evidence of Overdominance
    • Evidence for Epistasis
    • Agreement between Mathematical and Biological Models
  • 20. Modern Breeding Techniques
    • Convergent Improvement
    • Recurrent Selection
    • Gamete Selection
    • Homozygous Lines from Monoploids and Parthenogenetic Diploids
    • The Oenothera Method of Establishing Homozygous Lines
    • The Use of Exotic Germ Plasm
    • Inventory of Exotic Races
    • Using Exotic Races
    • Using Exotic Germ Plasm from Diverse Sources
    • The Use of Cytoplasmic Male Sterility
    • Breeding Corn for Improved Protein Quality
  • Bibliography
  • Index

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