An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Origin of Maize

Abstract

This paper addresses objections raised in an article by Bennetzen et al. (2000) in response to MacNeish and Eubanks (2000). Bennetzen et al. interpret the findings reported by MacNeish and Eubanks as opposition to the teosinte hypothesis for the origin of maize. However, by demonstrating a mutagenic mechanism that could have generated the genetic diversity essential for the transition from teosinte to maize, and the subsequent explosive evolution of maize in the archaeological record, the Tripsacum-diploperennis introgression derivatives confirm that teosinte is a progenitor of maize. Although Bennetzen et al. claim that the Tripsacum- diploperennis crosses are not credible, DNA fingerprinting verified that the hybrids contain genes from their teosinte and Tripsacum parents. Archaeobotanical remains of teosinte, Tripsacum, and hybrid specimens have been reported from Tamaulipas and Oaxaca. One of the "hybrid" specimens from Tamaulipas is virtually identical to an experimental Tripsacum-diploperennis segregate. The ability to experimentally reproduce forms that closely resemble archaeological specimens lends compelling support to the hypothesis that intergeneric hybridzation gave rise to the mutations that, through human selection, transformed teosinte into domesticated maize.