Bin Chen¹ , Junfeng Hou¹ , Yunfei Cai² , Guiyue Wang¹ , Renxiang Cai³ , Fucheng Zhao¹

1 Institute of Maize and Featured Upland Crops, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dongyang, 322100, Zhengjiang, China
2 Seed Management Station of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310009, Zhengjiang, China
3 Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang AandF University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhengjiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Maize Genomics and Genetics, 2024, Vol. 15, No. 5   
Received: 22 Jul., 2024    Accepted: 03 Sep., 2024    Published: 23 Sep., 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The genus Zea, which includes maize and its wild relatives, exhibits significant genetic diversity, particularly within the chloroplast genome. This study investigates the variability in chloroplast genomes across different Zea species to understand their evolutionary relationships and potential for genetic improvement. By analyzing whole chloroplast genomes, researchers identified substantial nucleotide sequence variations and evolutionary rates among different Zea species. Our findings reveal that photosynthetic genes are under strong purifying selection, while other genes exhibit heterogeneous substitution rates, indicating diverse evolutionary pressures. This research highlights the importance of chloroplast genome diversity in the adaptation and evolution of Zea species, providing valuable insights for breeding programs aimed at enhancing stress tolerance and other agronomic traits.

Genetic diversity; Chloroplast genome; Zea species; Evolutionary rates; Plant breeding