James Holland
USDA Professor
Maize Breeding & Genetics
Faculty
2122 Plant Sciences Building
We are interested in understanding the nature of genetic variation within maize (field corn),Zea mays:
- How is genetic variation distributed among and within temperate inbred lines, temperate landraces, tropical inbred lines, and tropical accessions?
- Are there unique allelic variants in exotic, tropical maize that are absent from the U.S. breeding pool?
- Which genomic regions are associated with phenotypic variance for important agronomic traits (grain yield, flowering time, plant height, disease resistance)?
- How do allelic variations at different loci interact in their effects on phenotypes (is epistasis important, and how does it ramify from genic interactions to phenotypic interactions)?
- What are the most efficient breeding procedures for incorporating unique and favorable alleles from unadapted genetic backgrounds into well-adapted temperate lines?
- Can DNA marker-assisted selection aid us in this task?
In addition, we have a program to identify the genetic basis of resistance to corn ear rot caused by Fusarium fungal species and of resistance to the accumulation of the mycotoxin, fumonisin, caused by the fungus.
Publications
- 2018-2019 field seasons of the Maize Genomes to Fields (G2F) G x E project, BMC GENOMIC DATA (2023)
- Bearded or smooth? Awns improve yield when wheat experiences heat stress during grain fill (2023)
- Bearded or smooth? Awns improve yield when wheat experiences heat stress during grain fill in the southeastern United States, Journal of Experimental Botany (2023)
- Characterization of a Host-Specific Toxic Activity Produced by Bipolaris cookei, Causal Agent of Target Leaf Spot of Sorghum, PHYTOPATHOLOGY (2023)
- Enhancing adaptation of tropical maize to temperate environments using genomic selection, G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS (2023)
- Environment-specific selection alters flowering-time plasticity and results in pervasive pleiotropic responses in maize, NEW PHYTOLOGIST (2023)
- Genomes to Fields 2022 Maize genotype by Environment Prediction Competition, BMC RESEARCH NOTES (2023)
- Empirical comparison of genomic and phenotypic selection for resistance to Fusarium ear rot and fumonisin contamination in maize, THEORETICAL AND APPLIED GENETICS (2022)
- Environment-specific genomic prediction ability in maize using environmental covariates depends on environmental similarity to training data, G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS (2022)
- Genomic prediction for the Germplasm Enhancement of Maize project, PLANT GENOME (2022)