New Clues in the Genetic Mysteries of Maize

• Biography, Prof. Messing
  
• Waksman Institute of Microbiology
  

 "Our research conducted with worldwide collaborations will help enable scientists and farmers to make major improvements in one of the world's most significant crops and gain new and important insights in plant genomic studies," said Joachim Messing, right, director of the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers.

The scientists had conducted the most comprehensive survey of the maize genome ever performed and established for the first time the genome's magnitude - approximately 59,000 genes - and the relative position of the genes. This is twice as many as the human genome and the highest number of genes of any genome sequenced to date. Messing emphasized that this survey is only a first step and conducting a whole genome sequence is a priority dictated by nutritional, economic and societal needs.

The research established that in addition to its immense size, the corn genome is extremely complex. Messing and his colleagues concluded that maize genes are scrambled, having moved around to different locations throughout the genome - an occurrence unheard of in other species, including the human genome. This has important implications for genetic engineering.

"An argument often cited against the introduction of external genes, a common practice in genetic engineering, suggests that it would create an unnatural instability in the genome," said Messing. "With all the maize genes moving around by themselves in nature, perhaps conveying some selective advantage in doing so, this argument is unfounded."

Through sophisticated computational analysis, the researchers concluded that today's corn is the product of two very closely related ancestral species that no longer exist.

"It looks like significant evolutionary change happened in a relatively short time," said Messing. "Because they are immobile, plants have to adapt to changes more rapidly than animals that can move to escape environmental impacts. Plants are continually faced with a variety of seasonal challenges and assaults by a series of different pests which may well lead to evolution on a fast track."