Corn breeders can use new information about the
origins and genetic relationships of U. S. popcorns to create improved
varieties for popcorn enthusiasts.
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Researchers Team Up to Improve Popcorn
By Ann Perry
January 11, 2008 On a long winter's night, no treat
seems simpler than a big bowl of popcornuntil you start to trace the
connections between traditional races of popping corns and modern commercial
varieties of popcorn.
Plant geneticist Amalio Santacruz Varelathen a graduate student at
Iowa State University and currently a
professor and researcher at el Colegio de
Postgraduados in Mexicoteamed up with
Mark
Widrlechner to assemble some popcorn pedigrees. Widrlechner is a plant
geneticist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), working at the agency's North Central
Regional Plant Introduction Station (NCRPIS)
in Ames, Iowa.
They focused on 56 maize (Zea mays L.) varieties from the United
States and Latin Americaemphasizing popcornsand measured 29
morphological traits based on heritable qualities and popping characteristics.
They also obtained genetic data from DNA markers and from variations in
proteins called enzymes.
Statistical programs were used to analyze these data and estimate the
probability of close genetic relationships among the maize varieties. Drawing
on the results, the team proposed classifying the majority of U.S. popcorn
varieties into three main groups.
Most of the common U.S. commercial varieties belong to the North American
Yellow Pearl Popcorns group. This type of popcorn may have its origins in a
Chilean popcorn variety adapted to growing conditions similar to conditions in
typical U.S. production areas.
The second group, North American Pointed Rice Popcorns, has two subgroups.
One contains genetically similar, white popcorns with pointed kernels from the
United States, and another represents the major pointed popcorn races from
Latin America.
A third group, North American Early Popcorns, appears to be closely related
to Northern Flint varieties, which in turn originated from Mexican maize
progenitors. Northern Flint varieties have contributed significantly to the
development of other important U. S. corn varieties, including Corn Belt
Dentsthe yellow field corn grown on millions of acres in the United
States and other nationsand many sweet corn types.
Plant breeders can use this information about the origin and genetic
relationships of U. S. popcorns to develop even better varieties of popcorn for
snacking enthusiasts.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.