近日，丹麦哥本哈根大学Nathan Wales团队报道了北美东部早期玉米的基因组起源。2024年12月4日，国际知名学术期刊《细胞》发表了这一成果。

研究人员表示，来自北美东部的本土玉米品种在育种计划中发挥了巨大的作用，但它们的早期起源尚未完全了解。

该课题组生成了古基因组数据来重建玉米最初是如何到达这个地区的，以及在这个过程中玉米是如何被选择的。基因组祖先分析显示，从墨西哥的不同地区反复向北移动，可能在至少两次从美国西南部穿越大平原，到Ozark及其他地区的分散中达到高潮。

研究小组发现1000年前的Ozark标本携带一个高度分化的wx1基因，该基因参与直链淀粉的合成，突出了在玉米驯化过程中淀粉代谢途径的重复选择压力。这个种群显示出与最终成为北方燧石人的血统密切相关，后者是现代商业玉米的主要贡献者。

附：英文原文

Title: The genomic origin of early maize in eastern North America

Author: Jazmín Ramos-Madrigal, Gayle J. Fritz, Bryon Schroeder, Bruce Smith, Fátima Sánchez-Barreiro, Christian Care, Anne Kathrine Wiborg Runge, Sarah Boer, Krista McGrath, Filipe G. Vieira, Shanlin Liu, Rute R. da Fonseca, Chunxue Guo, Guojie Zhang, Bent Petersen, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén, Shyam Gopalakrishnan, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Nathan Wales

Issue&Volume: 202412-04

Abstract: Indigenous maize varieties from eastern North America have played an outsized role in breeding programs, yet their early origins are not fully understood. We generated paleogenomic data to reconstruct how maize first reached this region and how it was selected during the process. Genomic ancestry analyses reveal recurrent movements northward from different parts of Mexico, likely culminating in at least two dispersals from the US Southwest across the Great Plains to the Ozarks and beyond. We find that 1,000-year-old Ozark specimens carry a highly differentiated wx1 gene, which is involved in the synthesis of amylose, highlighting repeated selective pressures on the starch metabolic pathway throughout maize’s domestication. This population shows a close affinity with the lineage that ultimately became the Northern Flints, a major contributor to modern commercial maize.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.11.003

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)01277-7