Brian Dilkes

Two teosintes made modern maize

Science · 2023 · 146 citations

in the highlands of Mexico some 4000 years after domestication began. We show that variation in admixture is a key component of maize diversity, both at individual loci and for additive genetic variation underlying agronomic traits. Our results clarify the origin of modern maize and raise new questions about the anthropogenic mechanisms underlying dispersal throughout the Americas.

Maize brace roots provide stalk anchorage

Plant Direct · 2020 · 52 citations

Mechanical failure, known as lodging, negatively impacts yield and grain quality in crops. Limiting crop loss from lodging requires an understanding of the plant traits that contribute to lodging-resistance. In maize, specialized aerial brace roots are reported to reduce root lodging. However, their direct contribution to plant biomechanics has not been measured. In this manuscript, we use a non-destructive field-based mechanical test on plants before and after the removal of brace roots. This p…

Identification of the Tyrosine- and Phenylalanine-Derived Soluble Metabolomes of Sorghum

Frontiers in Plant Science · 2021 · 42 citations

) identifying several MS features that change significantly in each mutant.

Endosidin20 Targets the Cellulose Synthase Catalytic Domain to Inhibit Cellulose Biosynthesis

The Plant Cell · 2020 · 35 citations

). Chemical genetic analysis revealed important amino acids that potentially participate in the catalytic activity of plant CESA6, in addition to previously identified conserved motifs across kingdoms. Using high spatiotemporal resolution live cell imaging, we found that inhibiting the catalytic activity of CESA6 by ES20 treatment reduced the efficiency of CSC transport to the plasma membrane. Our results demonstrate that ES20 is a chemical inhibitor of CESA activity and trafficking that represe…

A large-effect fitness trade-off across environments is explained by a single mutation affecting cold acclimation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-01-30 · 32 citations

Identifying the genetic basis of local adaptation and fitness trade-offs across environments is a central goal of evolutionary biology. Cold acclimation is an adaptive plastic response for surviving seasonal freezing, and costs of acclimation may be a general mechanism for fitness trade-offs across environments in temperate zone species. Starting with locally adapted ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana from Italy and Sweden, we examined the fitness consequences of a naturally occurring functional p…