Uncovering the Mystery of How Early Crops Were Domesticated Easily
In a new study published in Nature Plants, scientists have uncovered evidence that suggests that the domestication of an early crop, teosinte, was much easier than previously thought. Teosinte, a wild ancestor of maize, is believed to have been first domesticated in what is now Mexico and Guatemala around 9,000 years ago.
The study found that teosinte domestication only required the selection of a single gene, known as the teosinte branched1 (tb1) gene, which reduced the number of branches on the teosinte plant. This was an important adaptation, as the removal of the extra branches helped to make the plant easier to harvest.
The findings suggest that the domestication of teosinte was not a difficult process, and could have been achieved by small-scale societies with limited resources. This is an important discovery, as it suggests that the domestication of maize was a much more achievable process than previously thought.
source: Phys.org