Can the grains offer each other helping hands?Convergent molecular mechanisms associated with domestication and crop improvement in rice and maize

The grasses,Poaceae,are an extraordinarily ecologically success-ful clade,with more than 10000 described extant species.The grasses include more than 30 domesticated grain crops,ranging from maize(Zea mays),rice(Oryza sativa),and wheat(Triticum aes-tivum),which are collectively responsible for 50%of all calories consumed by humans around the world,to minor and orphan crops such as teff(Eragrostis tef),pearl millet(Pennisetum glaucum),proso millet(Panicum milaceum),and Job's tears(Coix lacryma-jobi)(Glémin and Bataillon,2009).Domestication of grain crops from their wild relatives involved a common suite of phenotypic changes,including loss of seed shattering,loss of dormancy,and increased apical dominance,which are collectively referred to as"domestication syndrome"(Glémin and Bataillon,2009).