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History of maize research and cooperation

See a brief history of maize domestication



Classic maize papers

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Timeline
Research, Meetings, Cooperative resources

Date

1900

Rediscovery of Mendel's laws
DeVries, Correns and Tschermak independently rediscover Mendel's work from the 1860s.
Publication: Roberts, H. F. Plant Hybridization before Mendel. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1929.



1906

Discovery of gene linkage
Bateson and Punnet find evidence of genetic linkage in 1906 when they found some gene pairs in sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) do not assort independantly.



1913

First genetic map - for fruit fly
First genetic map was produced by Alfred Sturtevant for fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).
Publication: The linear arrangement of six sex-linked factors in drosophila, as shown by their mode of association. Surtevant. 1913


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R. A. Emerson



1928

Emerson CornFab
The “cornfab” held in Emerson's hotel room during the AAAS Christmas meetings in New York City in 1928.



1929

Maize stocks held at Cornell University
The public collection of maize was managed at Cornell University from 1929 - 1953


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Linkage group 9 and Rainbow map as of April 12, 1929
Cornfests, Cornfabs and Cooperation. Kass et al., 2005. https://www.genetics.org/content/169/4/1787



1929

First genetic maps for maize
1928-1931. Rhoades: The rapidity with which maize cytogenetics was developing is evident from the fact that in 1928 none of the chromosomes had been cytologically identified and none of the linkage groups was known to be situated in a specific chromosome, but by 1931 all ten linkage groups had been assigned to identifi­able chromosomes. This amazing accomplishment, so quickly achieved, was primarily due to McClintock.



1931

Correlation of cytological and genetic crossing over
Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock showed that the recombination of genes linked on a chromosome requires the physical exchange of segments of the chromosome with its homologous partner. This was first shown in maize.
Publication: A Correlation of Cytological and Genetical Crossing-over in Zea mays. Creighton and McClintok, 1931


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1932

Maize News Letter
The Maize News Letter was formally launched by M. Rhoades.



1935

Linkage maps and data documented
The first complete list of all known genetic loci and mapping data.
Publication: A summary of linkage studies in maize. Emerson, R.A., Beadle, G. W. and A. E. Fraser. 1935.Cornell Univ. Agric. Exp. Stn. Memoir 180:1–83.


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1947

Transposable elements
Barbara McClintock discovers transposable elements.
Publication: The origin and behavior of mutable loci in maize. McClintock, 1951.



1953

Maize Genetics Stock Center
The Maize Genetics Stock Center COOP is established at the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana by the USDA and takes over management of public maize stocks.



1959

First Maize Genetics Conference




1968

Regular updating of linkage maps instituted 




1975

International Maize Symposium
See photos from this meeting in the photo gallery Also see conference brochure and roster.



1985

RFLP maps of maize
The first RFLP maps for maize generated by Helentjaris.
Publication: Construction of genetic linkage maps in maize and tomato using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Helentjaris et al., 1986.



1991

First maize genetic database
Groundwork for the first online database for maize started by Ed Coe and Mary Schaeffer.



1994

MaizeDB
MaizeDB publicly announced by Ed Coe


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The MaizeDB home page in 1994.


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The MaizeDB home page in 1994.



1994

MaizeDB
MaizeDB publicly announced by Ed Coe



1998

NSF National Plant Genome Initiaive
8 years after the initiation of the human genome project, NSF established the National Plant Genome Sequencing (NPGS) initiative for plants, including maize.


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The ZmDb home page in 1999.



1999

ZmDB
ZmDB was established by Volker Brendel and Virginia Walbot



2000

Maize Genetics Executive Committee
The Maize Genetics Executive Committee (MGEC) is established.



2003

Human genome
The first draft of the human genome is released.



2003

MaizeGDB
MaizeDB combines with ZmDB to become MaizeGDB


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The MaizeGDB home page in 2003.



2005

MaizeGDB Editorial Board
An editorial board is formed from members of the community to recommend papers of high importance to maize researchers.



2007

Genome framework aligned to genetic maps

Publication: The Physical and Genetic Framework of the Maize B73 Genome. Wei F. et al., PLOS Genetics. 2007



2009

Maize genome
The first draft of the B73 representative maize genome assembly is released.
Publication: The B73 Maize Genome: Complexity, Diversity, and Dynamics. Schnable et al., 2009.



2010

Maize genome v2



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2012

MaizeGDB redesign
Carolyn Lawrence and Carson Andorf launched a redesign of the entire MaizeGDB website.



2013

Maize genome v3




2016

Maize genome v4




2020

NAM founders assemblies
High qualitity assemblies of the 25 NAM founders and B73 are released.