Domestication, spread, and improvement have shaped biological nitrogen fixation traits in Zea taxa
- 1The Ohio State University
Abstract
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers enhance maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) productivity but impose substantial environmental and economic costs. Some Mexican maize landraces support biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in aerial root mucilage, raising the question of how much variation exists in this trait and how domestication, geographic spread, and improvement have shaped BNF-related traits across Zea in the Americas. We evaluated aerial root traits and BNF capacity across the maize domestication continuum using 60 Zea accessions grown in field experiments over two years under low-N conditions. Some accessions of wild Zea, landraces from Mexico and South America, and improved varieties had elevated nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa), ranging from 20 to 40%; some of these also had greater %Ndfa than typical improved varieties. Spread and improvement appear to have significantly reduced the number of aerial root-bearing nodes, with wild Zea and Mexican landraces consistently producing more. Nevertheless, the proportion of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa) does not vary systematically across the domestication continuum. Thus, crop evolution shaped aerial root phenotypes more than associative BNF capacity. The persistence of substantial within-group variation indicates that the genetic potential for enhanced BNF remains within the Zea gene pool, providing opportunities to encourage and improve nitrogen use efficiency in maize cropping systems.
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BibTeX
@misc{maleki2026domestication,
title = {{Domestication, spread, and improvement have shaped biological nitrogen fixation traits in Zea taxa}},
author = {K. Maleki and L. Connolly and N. Lorenz and T. Amphonechit and A. Lindsey and H. Perales and V. Bernau and R. Dick and K. Mercer},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.30.755791},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755791v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Domestication, spread, and improvement have shaped biological nitrogen fixation traits in Zea taxa
AU - K. Maleki
AU - L. Connolly
AU - N. Lorenz
AU - T. Amphonechit
AU - A. Lindsey
AU - H. Perales
AU - V. Bernau
AU - R. Dick
AU - K. Mercer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.30.755791
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755791v1
AB - Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers enhance maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) productivity but impose substantial environmental and economic costs. Some Mexican maize landraces support biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in aerial root mucilage, raising the question of how much variation exists in this trait and how domestication, geographic spread, and improvement have shaped BNF-related traits across Zea in the Americas. We evaluated aerial root traits and BNF capacity across the maize domestication continuum using 60 Zea accessions grown in field experiments over two years under low-N conditions. Some accessions of wild Zea, landraces from Mexico and South America, and improved varieties had elevated nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa), ranging from 20 to 40%; some of these also had greater %Ndfa than typical improved varieties. Spread and improvement appear to have significantly reduced the number of aerial root-bearing nodes, with wild Zea and Mexican landraces consistently producing more. Nevertheless, the proportion of nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa) does not vary systematically across the domestication continuum. Thus, crop evolution shaped aerial root phenotypes more than associative BNF capacity. The persistence of substantial within-group variation indicates that the genetic potential for enhanced BNF remains within the Zea gene pool, providing opportunities to encourage and improve nitrogen use efficiency in maize cropping systems.
ER -