Two roads to a full ear: How maize domestication shaped form and function

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Early farmers turned bushy teosinte into maize by two genetic routes: one route reshaped the plant's architecture, and a newly identified route changed its physiology, sending more sugar and nitrogen to the ear. Both increased the share of the plant that becomes grain, and both can guide future crop improvement.