The fall 2021 BRS seminar will be on the Zoom Webinar Platform:
https://ubc.zoom.us/j/61116026976?pwd=RUIvdHNTRFE2MzgrTCtVMDZGSHJnZz09
Passcode: 685936
Abstract: In the talk I first discuss the role of adaptive introgression into maize from its wild relative teosinte. I then show how this admixture seems to have played a role in maize adaptation to both temperate and highland conditions in several parts of the Americas outside of the range of teosinte. I end with unpublished work that takes advantage of new sequencing and new ancient samples to show that indeed all modern maize appears to contain admixture from teosinte, implying a new model of maize domestication and spread. We posit an initial domestication of maize in Mexico that spread across the Americas, and that subsequently admixture with teosinte led to a new lineage which spread back out from the highlands of Mexico, replacing or mixing with local maize.