Genomic diversity and population structure of teosintes (Zea spp.) and its conservation implications

The wild species of the genus Zea commonly named teosintes, comprise nine different taxa, distributed from northern Mexico to Costa Rica. Although this genus of plants has been extensively studied from a morphological, ecogeographical and genetic point of view, most contributions have been limited to the study of a few populations and taxa. To understand the great variability that exists between and within teosinte species, it is necessary to include the vast majority of known populations. In this context, the objective of this work was to evaluate the diversity and genomic structure of 276 teosinte populations. Molecular analyzes were performed with 3,604 plants and with data from 33,929 SNPs. The levels of genetic diversity by taxonomic group show a marked difference between species, races and sections, where the highest values of genomic diversity were found in ssp. parviglumis and ssp. mexicana. The lower values were obtained for the Luxuriantes section as well as ssp. huehuetenagen..., Plant material for this study was obtained from 276 teosinte populations representing each of the known Zea species and subspecies (except Zea vespertilio, which was recently described and for which no seed samples were available for the present study,) and their races, throughout their entire geographical distribution from northern Mexico to western Nicaragua. The accessions were provided by Instituto de Manejo y Aprovechamiento de los Recursos Fitogenétios (IMAREFI) of the Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias (CUCBA) of the Universidad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The number of individual plants per population was 30 for 20 type populations and 15 for the rest (256 populations). Plants were grown from seeds in greenhouse conditions at CUCBA, Jalisco, Mexico during 2014 and 2015.  The work of molecular biology was carried out by the Laboratorio de Genética de la Conservación at Jardín Botánico of I..., , # Genomic diversity and population structure of teosintes (Zea spp.) and its conservation implications

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2547d7wxp](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2547d7wxp)

The Mexican Agreement on the Determination of Maize's Centers of Origin and Diversity states that research should be carried on to characterize and monitor maize wild relatives’ genetic diversity at the population level. The Teosintes Monitoring Program (https://biodiversidad.gob.mx/genes/monitoreo-teocintles) was conceived to fulfill this task, by focusing on the closest wild relatives of maize commonly known as teosintes. This data presented here is part of the Teosintes Monitoring Program.

Plant material for this study was obtained from 276 teosinte populations representing each of the known Zea species and subspecies (except Zea vespertilio, which was recently described and for which no seed samples were available for the present study,) and their races, throughout their entire geographical distri...