b"Wild Relatives: The Building Blocks for Crop Diversity in Corn and BeyondBreeders call upon crops wild relatives for new varieties.Ally RodenIT IS NO SECRET THATfood security is a rising issueis recognizable as present day corn around 4,500 years ago, across the U.S. As experts search for ways to combat thestated the National Science Foundation (NSF). A study by the increased food insecurity, one solution comes in the form ofUniversity of California, Irvine, discovered that out of the 59,000 crops that are not new at allwild relatives. genes that make up the corn genome, 1,200 were targeted by Wild relatives have been around long before crops were firstthe Native Americans for selection during domestication.domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Domestication beganDuring domestication, eventually, you create a new species. with wild plantsat some point, humans made the jump fromWhatever diversity was in that basket of seeds that you saved, simply harvesting plants to saving the seeds, planting them andthat's all you had. Thats called a bottleneck. You were select-then harvesting the new seeds. Humans began to isolate which- ing for specific things in your basket of seeds that weren't out in ever population of seeds they took from the wild and put in theirthe wild, creating a different variety from what was found in the baskets, and over time, those seeds started to differ from whatwild, Warburton explains.was out in the wild, according to Marilyn Warburton, research leader of the Western Regional Plant Introduction Station. What is Crop Diversity?In the case of corn, domestication began between 6,000When speaking of crop diversity, it is typically understood at to 10,000 years ago. Native Americans settled in present daythree levels: crop species diversity, varietal diversity and genetic Mexico started domesticating teosinte, creating a plant thatdiversity. This diversity allows crops to adapt and change over Breeders field day in 2018. Warburton analyzes maize that was created by backcrossing new varieties with old landraces in order to bring in new genetic variation from the landraces.PHOTOS: MARILYN WARBURTON98/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2022"