"Cracking Corn’s Genetic Code: New Study Uncovers Secrets to More Resilient Crops".

A recent breakthrough in plant genetics could pave the way for developing corn varieties that are both more productive and more adaptable to shifting environmental conditions. Researchers at the University of Michigan, led by molecular biologist Alexandre Marand, have decoded how genes function within specific cell types in maize—an advancement that sheds new light on the complex relationship between DNA and a plant’s visible characteristics.

The study examined nearly 200 different maize lines and focused on how DNA behaves in distinct cell contexts. While every cell in a corn plant shares the same genome, the way individual cells activate and regulate genes can vary greatly. This variation, researchers found, plays a critical role in shaping key physical traits, such as the number and size of corn ears.

“What’s really striking is how much of a plant’s phenotype depends not just on what genes it has, but how those genes are used,” explained Marand, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. “This includes when a gene is turned on, how strongly it’s expressed, and in what cell type it’s active.”

According to Marand, earlier approaches in plant genetics often focused on linking specific genetic variants to physical traits. However, those efforts frequently failed to explain the large-scale differences in traits observed in the field. This new study bridges that gap by exploring gene activity in its cellular context—essentially adding a missing layer of understanding to how genotype influences phenotype.

More than 15 years have passed since the maize genome was fully sequenced, allowing scientists to compare genetic differences at a detailed level. Still, subtle variations in DNA often fell short of accounting for critical traits valued by farmers, like yield potential or resilience to stress.

That discrepancy led researchers to hypothesize that gene regulation within specific cell types might be the key. Over the past five years, new methods in plant molecular biology have made it possible to explore this question in depth. Marand’s team used single-nucleus chromatin accessibility quantitative trait loci (caQTL) mapping to pinpoint how gene activity varies between cells and how that influences the plant as a whole.

The study, recently published in the journal Science, was propelled to completion by postdoctoral researchers Luguang Jiang and Fabio Gomez-Cano in Marand’s lab. It marks one of the most significant advances yet in the emerging field of cell-type-specific plant genomics.

“We’re finally able to connect the dots,” said Marand. “Now we can break down how traits are controlled at the cellular level and use that information to optimize crops.”

He likened the discovery to understanding how a car works. “Before, we knew the parts, but not how they functioned together. Now, we see the system—and that opens the door to improving it.”

By identifying how each cellular component influences overall plant function, researchers hope to unlock more precise methods of breeding crops to thrive in an ever-changing world.

Source:https://phys.org/news/2025-04-omics-discoveries-corn-genetics-productive.html

This is non-financial/medical advice and made using AI so could be wrong.