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Published online on October 31, 2007, 10.1073/pnas.0708736104
PNAS | November 6, 2007 | vol. 104 | no. 45 | 17608-17613


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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / ANTHROPOLOGY
Identification of teosinte, maize, and Tripsacum in Mesoamerica by using pollen, starch grains, and phytoliths

Irene Holst*, J. Enrique Moreno*, and Dolores R. Piperno*,§,{dagger}

*Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama; and §Archaeobiology Program, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560

Contributed by Dolores R. Piperno, September 18, 2007 (received for review August 1, 2007)

We examined pollen grains and starch granules from a large number of modern populations of teosinte (wild Zea spp.), maize (Zea mays L.), and closely related grasses in the genus Tripsacum to assess their strengths and weaknesses in studying the origins and early dispersals of maize in its Mesoamerican cradle of origin. We report new diagnostic criteria and question the accuracy of others used previously by investigators to identify ancient maize where its wild ancestor, teosinte, is native. Pollen grains from teosinte overlap in size with those of maize to a much greater degree than previously reported, making the differentiation of wild and domesticated maize in palynological studies difficult. There is presently no valid method for separating maize and teosinte pollen on a morphological basis. Starch grain analysis, a recently developed tool of archaeobotany, appears to be of significant utility in distinguishing the seeds of teosinte from maize. We propose that the differences in starch grain morphology and size between wild and domesticated maize defined in this study may be associated with domestication genes in Zea that have been documented in the starch biosynthesis pathway. As previously reported, phytoliths effectively discriminate the female reproductive structures of Tripsacum, teosinte, and maize. Multiproxy microfossil studies of archaeological and paleoecological contexts appear to be effective tools for investigating the earliest stages of maize domestication and dispersals.

Author contributions: D.R.P., I.H., and J.E.M. designed research; I.H., J.E.M., and D.R.P. performed research; I.H., D.R.P., and J.E.M. analyzed data; and D.R.P. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0708736104/DC1.

{dagger}To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pipernod{at}si.edu

© 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA


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Related Commentary in PNAS:

Microscopic evidence for the domestication and spread of maize
Vaughn M. Bryant, Jr.
PNAS 2007 104: 19659-19660. [Extract] [Full Text]  



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V. M. Bryant Jr.
Microscopic evidence for the domestication and spread of maize
PNAS, December 11, 2007; 104(50): 19659 - 19660.
[Full Text] [PDF]