Zea mays Variation. Zea mays

Following the domestication of maize over the past 10,000 years, breeders have exploited the extensive genetic diversity of this species to mold its phenotype to meet human needs. The extent of structural variation, including copy number variation (CNV) and presence/absence variation (PAV), which are thought to contribute to the extraordinary phenotypic diversity and plasticity of this important crop, have not been elucidated. Whole-genome, array-based, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) revealed a level of structural diversity between the inbred lines B73 and Mo17 that is unprecedented among higher eukaryotes. A detailed analysis of altered segments of DNA conservatively estimates that there are several hundred CNV sequences among the two genotypes, as well as several thousand PAV sequences that are present in B73 but not Mo17. Haplotype-specific PAVs contain hundreds of single-copy, expressed genes that may contribute to heterosis and to the extraordinary phenotypic diversity of this important crop. Overall design: In our experimental design we had seven replicates of B73 (one with Cy3 and six with Cy5) and seven replicates of Mo17 (six with Cy3 and one with Cy5). Images were processed and spatial normalization of data within the array was conducted according to Nimblegen's standard protocol. The RIL samples (M0022 and M0023) were in included because we used the probe's B73 and Mo17 signals of those samples during our analysis.