Crop Evolution II Flashcards
1
Q
What is shattering?
A
Natural shedding of seeds.
2
Q
What is tillering?
A
Production of side shoots.
3
Q
What has maize evolved from?
A
Teosinte
4
Q
How has maize evolved and what are the benefits?
A
- Larger ears
- Reduced shattering and tillering
^ both led to increased yield and easier to farm - Reduced fruit casing - Easier to eat
5
Q
What led to naked kernels in maize?
A
Amino acid substitution in tga1.
6
Q
What are the diploid progenitors of wheat?
A
- Einkorn (AA): Hulled wheat, very resistant
- Durum (AABB): Free threshing, very hard grains
- Emmer (AABB): Hulled, hard grain
- Bread (AABBDD): Free threshing, soft grain, increased grain size, delayed senescence, reduced tillering
7
Q
What is free threshing?
A
The seeds separate cleanly from the chaff during the threshing process.
8
Q
What is different about dwarf Arabidopsis?
A
Makes too much gibberellic acid
9
Q
What is different about dwarf rice and peas?
A
Insensitive to GA
10
Q
What is different about dwarf wheat?
A
Does not make enough gibberellic acid
11
Q
How has rice evolved to become a domesticated plant?
A
- Reduced shattering: by mutation in abscisic layer
- Reduced awn length: deletion in LABA1, makes processing easier
12
Q
What do rice awns do?
A
Aid seed dispersal and protection.
