This book provides a comprehensive review of genetics, genomics and breeding of maize. It contains 13 chapters written by 44 authors from around the world, covering topics such as the economic importance and history of maize, breeding and genetic diversity, genomic distribution of genetic diversity, linkage and association studies, marker-assisted breeding, comparative genomics, functional genomics, epigenomics, proteomic research, artificial chromosomes, databases for maize researchers, non-traditional uses of maize, and future directions in maize breeding with new technologies. While the book is missing a chapter on genotype-by-environment interaction and has a minimal index, it provides valuable knowledge for maize breeders and geneticists.

1. crop science, vol. 56, january–february 2016
book review
Genetics, Genomics and Breeding
of Maize
Ramakrishna Wusirika, Martin Bohn, Jinsheng Lai, and
Chittaranjan Kole (Editors). CRC Press, Boca Raton,
FL. 2014. Hardback. xxv + 284 pp. $129.95. ISBN-13:
978-1-4822-2812-0.
Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Maize is the 19th
book in the series called ‘Genetics, Genomics and
Breeding of Crop Plants’. Chittaranjan Kole is the series
editor. The purpose of the series, as indicated in the ‘Pref-
ace to the Series’, is “…to fill an existing gap with indi-
vidual book volumes dedicated to the leading crop and
model plants with comprehensive deliberations on all the
classical, advanced, and modern concepts of depiction and
improvement of genomes.” Some of the crops previously
covered in this series are sunflower, soybean, sugarcane,
berries, vegetable brassicas, and potato.
Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Maize contains 13
chapters, written collectively by 44 authors from China,
India, Kenya, Mexico, the USA, and Zimbabwe. The book
has a five-page list of abbreviations, which is helpful to the
reader. At the end of the book, there is an eight-page color-
plate insert representing 10 figures. In Chapter 1, Kefeng Li
and Wusirika Ramakrishna present basic information on
maize, including economic importance, maize as a model
plant, and history (origin, evolution, and domestication).
Chapter 2 (‘Breeding and Genetic Diversity’),
authored by Goodman et al., covers many aspects of breed-
ing and genetic diversity. In section 2.3 (‘The Most Suc-
cessful Programs and the Folks Who Designed Them’),
the authors single out G.F. Sprague’s corn breeding pro-
gram at Iowa State University as an example of success-
ful USDA-university collaboration. The authors discuss
in Section 2.5 [‘The Importance of Modern Technologies
on (sic) Plant Breeding’] the successful use of molecular
markers by Pioneer and Syngenta companies for develop-
ing drought-tolerant hybrids. They also highlight the fact
that despite there being more than 250 races of maize,
only 10 have been widely used in maize breeding pro-
grams worldwide. They have advocated the use of teosinte
to discover unique alleles.
Chapter 3 (‘Genomic Distribution of Genetic Diver-
sity in Elite Maize Germplasm’), authored by Hainey et
al., is a departure from the rest of the chapters in that it is
a research article rather than a review article. The authors
have shown diversity values to vary along the chromo-
some length and centromeric regions. They have also
shown some non-centromeric regions to have a reduced
level of diversity. They have documented differences in
genetic diversity between genomic locations, heterotic
groups, and time of introduction of breeding lines.
Chapter 4 (‘Genetic Inference on Quantitative Traits
through Linkage and Association Studies’), written by Seth
C. Murray and Randall J. Wisser, deals with linkage and
association studies relative to quantitative traits. The authors
cover genetic dissection of quantitative traits, genotyping,
phenotyping, statistical analysis, and genetic inference.
They have tabulated studies relative to ‘established associa-
tion panels’, association mapping’, ‘nested association map-
ping (NAM) studies’, and ‘meta-analyses reported in maize
for various traits’, which should be handy for the reader.
Chapter 5 on ‘Molecular Marker-Assisted Breeding
for Tropical Maize Improvement’ is authored by Prasanna
et al., wherein efforts of CIMMYT (International Maize
and Wheat Improvement Center) towards developing
drought-tolerant and nitrogen-use efficient tropical and
subtropical germplasm are highlighted. The authors sug-
gest that while conventional breeding wisdom can never
be replaced by any new techniques, maize breeders would
do well to employ “modern tools, techniques and strate-
gies, such as doubled haploidy, high-density genotyping,
marker discovery and validation using GWAS (genome-
wide association studies) and biparental population-based
Published in Crop Sci 56:495–497 (2016).
doi: 10.2135/cropsci2015.11.0003br
© Crop Science Society of America
5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
All rights reserved.
Published December 30, 2015

2. 496 www.crops.org crop science, vol. 56, january–february 2016
linkage mapping.” They also suggest the need for public–
private partnerships for developing new products, espe-
cially for the resource-poor farmers.
Wusirika Ramakrishna and Rafi Shaik discuss in
Chapter 6 (‘Comparative Genomics’) how comparative
analysis of maize inbred lines and their wild relatives has
improved knowledge and understanding about maize evo-
lution, breeding, and genome biology. The authors have
provided a useful list of bioinformatics tools, databases,
and resources for comparative genomics of maize.
Chapter 7 (‘Functional Genomics’), authored by Chris-
tine M. Gault and A. Mark Settles, relates to application of
functional genomic technologies and resources to maize.
The authors have discussed topics such as gene expression,
subcellular localization of proteins, protein–protein inter-
actions, and novel biochemical functions of proteins. The
authors point out that despite improvements in proteomics
and cellular imaging technologies, advances in DNA
sequencing continue to lag. They suggest the need for func-
tional genomics to transition from qualitative, descriptive
data on mutants to quantitative phenotyping.
Madzima et al. have highlighted in Chapter 8 (‘Epig-
enomics’) the implications of epigenetics (defined as “heri-
table changes in gene expression that are not associated with
changes in DNA sequence,” e.g., differential methylation of
identical genes) in maize breeding. The authors discuss the
role of small RNAs (siRNAs) and list various classes of siR-
NAs in plants and effector pathways. Epigenetic variation
is indicated to contribute to non-additive gene expression
and hybrid vigor (heterosis). The authors suggest that a full
understanding of epigenetic pathways should significantly
impact breeding efforts in maize and other cereals.
In Chapter 9 (‘Proteomic Research Progress in Maize
Development, Stress Response and Heterosis’), Tang et al.
discuss the development of proteomics techniques (e.g.,
two dimensional electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and
fluorescence differential in gel electrophoresis) that have
contributed towards understanding molecular mecha-
nisms of growth and development in maize. The authors
have discussed heterosis in relation to proteomics, point-
ing out detection of differential patterns of protein accu-
mulation between hybrids and their inbred parents. They
have highlighted the association of the expression of spe-
cific alleles and/or post-translational modification of spe-
cific proteins with enhanced levels of heterosis.
In Chapter 10 (‘Artificial Chromosome Platforms in
Maize’), James A. Birchler has succinctly discussed devel-
opments related to artificial chromosomes, minichromo-
somes, B-chromosomes, and site-specific recombination.
Telomere-mediated chromosomal truncation (e.g., copy
number increase, truncation mechanism, and in vitro
modification) is discussed in detail. The author envisions
the use of artificial chromosomes to allow the introduc-
tion of whole biochemical pathways into plants to endow
them with new properties (e.g., resistance to insects and
microbes, adaptation to new environments, enhanced
nutrition, and reduction in chemical fertilizer use) and to
facilitate genomics studies.
Chapter 11 is authored by Schaeffer et al. It deals with
databases useful for maize researchers; e.g., MaizeGDB– a
community database financially supported by the USDA-
ARS. Resources related to genome sequences and assembly,
genome diversity, sequence-indexed mutants, maize tran-
scriptome, maize proteome, metabolic pathways for maize,
and maize protein structure are highlighted. The Maize-
GDB is indicated to be the central resource, as it links with
external resources, e.g., Gramene/Ensembl Plants and Phy-
tozome, metabolic tools, etc., and it can also access other
tools, such as MapMan, qTeller, and eFT expression browser.
Chapter 12 (‘Non-Traditional Uses of Maize: Biofuels,
Remediation and Pharmaceuticals’) is authored by Datta et
al. The authors discuss alternate uses of maize, e.g., bio-
energy from grain and biomass, industrial products (e.g.,
packing and insulation), paint, insecticides, organic acids,
antifreeze, and pharmaceuticals (e.g., vaccines, antibodies,
and therapeutic proteins). Another important use of maize
plant is said to be as a phytoremediation agent (using green
plants to remove pollutants from the environment and
heavy metals from contaminated soils). The authors have
tabulated information on pharmaceutical proteins pro-
duced in maize for both human and veterinary applications.
Mei Guo and Mark Cooper discuss in Chapter 13
(‘Future Maize Hybrid Development: Breeding with
Assistance of Molecular and Genomics Technologies and
Transgenics’) innovations that helped maize become a com-
mercial hybrid crop. The authors point out future direc-
tions in maize breeding, especially how the combined use
of high throughput genotyping and phenotyping technolo-
gies can help maize breeders predict the trait phenotype
of new inbreds and hybrids before resorting to empirical
phenotyping. Such approaches can save researchers’ time
and resources. The authors foresee transgenic solutions for
resistance to insects and herbicides to continue.
Even though this book is about maize breeding, one
does not find a chapter on genotype-by-environment
interaction (GEI), especially QTL (quantitative trait loci)-
by-environment interaction, which occurs universally in
multi-environment trials and hinders selection of superior
genotypes. There is only a passing reference to GEI on
page 100. The book would have been much more com-
prehensive and useful if a chapter on quantitative genetics
or specifically on GEI had been included. Another short-
coming of the book is a minimal six-page ‘Index’. A com-
prehensive index makes a book reader-friendly, as it can
help the reader locate important information in the book
quickly. Many important terms, such as ‘aprotinin’, ‘avi-
cidin’, ‘avidin’, ‘epialleles’, ‘northern corn leaf blight’– just
to name a few, should have been included in the Index.

3. crop science, vol. 56, january–february 2016 www.crops.org 497
In some cases, not all pages on which a term occurs have
been listed in the Index. For example, the term ‘meta-
analysis’ can be found on pages 77–79 and on 104 and
105; however, in the Index, only pages 104 and 105 are
listed. The Index could have been prepared more carefully
and comprehensively.
While certain deficiencies exist in Genetics, Genom-
ics and Breeding of Maize, maize breeders and geneticists
should benefit from the knowledge presented in the 13
chapters. The price of $129.95 for a hardback book appears
to be justified.
Manjit S. Kang*
Dep. of Plant Pathology
Kansas State Univ.
Manhattan, KS 66506-5502
*Corresponding author (manjit5264@yahoo.com).