Zea mays strain:Palomero Toluqueno EDMX-2233 Genome sequencing and assembly. Zea mays strain:Palomero Toluqueno EDMX-2233

Palomero Toluqueño is an ancestral popcorn landrace with one of the smallest genomes among Mexican maize. The project was undertaken to explore landrace genomic diversity and to offer possibilities of genomic comparison to the genome of inbred maize line B73. Structural and functional analysis reveals a large number of hitherto unreported genes, suggesting that the ancient landraces contain a large pool of unexplored genetic diversity. This diversity should be potentially useful for generating new crops as well as for the study of the evolution and domestication of maize as well as other cereals.