= Teosinte
<Teosinte> is the common name for wild relatives of <maize> in the genus <Zea>. These <grasses> are useful for studying <domestication> because they preserve combinations of branching and reproductive traits that differ strikingly from cultivated <maize>. The name covers multiple wild forms rather than one uniform <species>.
Compared with the strongly dominant main <shoot> of typical cultivated <maize>, its wild progenitor has much more lateral branching. Experiments on <teosinte branched1> connected part of this difference to altered <gene expression> and suppression of branch growth.<The evolution of apical dominance in maize by John Doebley and others>[1997, abstract: Zea mays subsp. parviglumis comparison and tb1 expression]{ref} A familiar food crop can thus illuminate <evolution>: conspicuous differences in plant architecture can arise partly through changes in the regulation of an existing developmental system.
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