Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 Years

New York Times ^ | Monday, May 24, 2010 | Sean B. Carroll

[SunkenCiv]

Many botanists did not see any connection between maize and other living plants. Some concluded that the crop plant arose through the domestication by early agriculturalists of a wild maize that was now extinct, or at least undiscovered. However, a few scientists working during the first part of the 20th century uncovered evidence that they believed linked maize to what, at first glance, would seem to be a very unlikely parent, a Mexican grass called teosinte... George W. Beadle, while a graduate student at Cornell University in the early 1930s, found that maize and teosinte had very similar chromosomes. Moreover, he made fertile hybrids between maize and teosinte that looked like intermediates between the two plants. He even reported that he could get teosinte kernels to pop. Dr. Beadle concluded that the two plants were members of the same species, with maize being the domesticated form of teosinte. Dr. Beadle went on to make other, more fundamental discoveries in genetics for which he shared the Nobel Prize in 1958... botanists led by my colleague John Doebley of the University of Wisconsin... discovered that all maize was genetically most similar to a teosinte type from the tropical Central Balsas River Valley of southern Mexico, suggesting that this region was the "cradle" of maize evolution. Furthermore, by calculating the genetic distance between modern maize and Balsas teosinte, they estimated that domestication occurred about 9,000 years ago.

[Cloverfarm]

We don’t eat field corn here, either. It’s fed to hogs, cattle, poultry, sheep, goats, horses, even farm-raised fish and domestic pets. It’s the gold standard of energy in livestock rations.

Sweet corn is totally different. Too bad you have missed out on that. A taste-bud treat!

Pop corn is da bomb, too.

I think them Aztecs had a good idea ;-)

[bigheadfred]

I hate corn in Europe we fed it to the pigs

Gee golly willikers. Welcome to the land of corn fed women...

[JoeProBono]

[nomad]

Cane sugar has fructose as well,and in nearly the same proportions.As for ethanol,the Europeans are already into alternative energy, but you can shove your European potato vodka. I`ll take Kentucky Bourbon over that rubbing alcohol any day.

[sphinx]

Someone played a dirty trick on you when they fed you field corn.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Corn also contains incomplete proteins, which are perfect complements for the (different) incomplete proteins in certain other plants — most notably beans.

When you eat beans with corn complete proteins result, through a process of mutual supplementation (the beans supplement the corn, and vice versa). Some genius stumbled upon that fact and created the bean taco. (Corn and beans aren't the only combination that work this way — but, it does show that corn can be part of a healthy diet.)

[Fiddlstix]

Yew Pore Soul........
Yew jus ain't never had no real honest ta goodness corn bread.......
Ah feel sorry fer ya.......
Ah rally dew.........

[rdl6989]

Try Silver Queen white sweet corn. You’ll like it.

http://www.burpee.com/product/id/101849.do

Gold-n-pearl is another good one. The kernels are mixed yellow and gold.
http://www.localharvest.org/corn-seed-sweet-gold-n-pearl-C8061

[SunkenCiv]

• Ancient Corncobs Unlock Riddle
• Farmers Genetically Modified Corn 4,000 Years Ago
• Maize Reveals Traces Of Old Breeding Project
• Mother Of Us All, Or Sister? Olmecs A Puzzle
• 120 Researchers Use Database to Unlock Corn's Genetic Code
• Ears of plenty (the story of wheat / The story of man's staple food)
• Ancient Andean Maize Makers: Finds Push Back Farming, Trade In Highland Peru
• Mummy's Amazing American Maize
• Practice Of Farming Reaches Back Farther Than Thought (Panama - 7,800YA)
• FSU Anthropologist Finds Earliest Evidence Of Maize Farming In Mexico (7,300 YA)
• Corn's Roots Dig Deeper Into South America
• Maize may have fueled ancient Andean civilization [ update of sorts ]
• Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 Years

[Nakota]

There is probably an ancient Aztec farmer with a bin full of teosinte who is still waiting for the price to go up before he sells. (Some things never change.)

[SunkenCiv]

The lovely, ordinary potato was once upon a time condemned by the aristocracy as unfit for their own consumption. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1303035/posts

[Sacajaweau]

The Silver Queen we buy now doesn’t seem to be the same one we bought 20 years ago.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[GSP.FAN]

I’ll stick with my potatoes you can have your corn...:>)

[Erasmus]

“The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye”

Elephants not being overly common in Oklahoma, I wonder how they knew when to harvest it.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks yefragetuwrabrumuy.

I’m too tired and lazy to build proper links for these related topics:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/742036/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1144921/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1486182/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1517609/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1581486/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1590585/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2140544/posts

[GSP.FAN]

I hear she cut down on the corn....

[SunkenCiv]

I enjoy corn anytime, but the best way is, grow it, pick it, husk it, cook it, eat it, in order, as quickly as possible. :’)

[Brugmansian]

Impossible. The world is only 6000 years old. / sarc.

Is that really needed? Its not new and has nothing to do with the OP. I see it on religious forums which allow liberals and atheists to post. Leftists pretend all Christians believe that. And they repeat it over and over and over.