View this video on the main BioInteractive site.

This video follows germplasm bank coordinator Cristian Zavala Espinosa and geneticist Sarah Hearne, who are part of the global effort to preserve the genetic diversity of maize (corn).

Zavala Espinosa and his colleagues at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo or CIMMYT) in Mexico protect the diversity of maize by storing seeds and cataloging more than 28,000 different native varieties. Researchers such as Hearne use valuable genetic information about the maize stored here to identify genetic traits that may protect maize crops as climates shift.

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Topics:

Bioinformatics

Climate Change

Artificial Selection

Genomics

Grade Levels:

College

High School — AP/IB

High School — General