Weed to Wonder

This interactive e-book from the Dolan DNA Learning Center shows the continuity of research on corn throughout the ages, from Native American agriculturalists to molecular biologists. Using animations, photographs, illustrations, time lapse video, and interviews the story of corn is told in five sections: Domestication, Hybrid Vigor, Genome Sequencing, Jumping Genes, and Biofortification. The section on Domestication covers how thousands of years of cultivation by Pre-Colombian Meso-Americans to turned the weedy grass, teosinte, into maize. Hybrid Vigor covers the history of Maize hybridization into the 20th Century and the Green Revolution. Genome Sequencing covers the discovery of maize's genetic code, through a collaboration between Mexican and American Scientists. Jumping Genes "covers how Barbara McClintock discovered transpotons and their role in shaping the maize genome." Finally, the section titled Biofortification covers how maize has the potential to improve human nutrition worldwide.