Adaptive introgression from maize has facilitated the establishment of teosinte as a noxious weed in Europe
Valérie Le Corre, Mathieu Siol, Yves Vigouroux, Maud I. Tenaillon, Christophe Délye
Abstract
Significance The emergence of noxious weeds poses a serious threat to agricultural production. Understanding their origin and evolution is therefore of major importance. Here we analyzed the intriguing case of teosinte, a wild relative of maize originating from Mexico that recently emerged as an invasive weed in maize fields in Europe. Patterns of genetic variation revealed extensive genetic introgression from maize adapted to temperate latitudes into European teosintes. Introgressed genomic regions harbored a key flowering time gene and an herbicide resistance gene. Our results exemplify how adaptive introgression can drive the evolution of a crop’s wild relative into a weed. Hybridization is an evolutionary force that should not be underestimated when forecasting invasiveness risks.