MaizeGDB

We are deeply saddened to share that Michael Freeling passed away on 7/20/2026 after a year-long battle with cancer. Our deepest condolences go to his family, friends, colleagues, and the many students he inspired. We will share additional memorial information soon.

ARS researchers in Peoria, IL and Ames, IA, are using AI to help American farmers save their corn crops. Scientists used AI to develop the online database called PanEffect. This innovation enables corn plant breeders to determine how genetic differences in corn -- and their fungal pathogens -- can influence disease development. This preventative tool is important to corn growers as they produce the largest U.S. crop, valued at $79.5 billion. scientificdiscoveries.ars.usda.gov/explore-our-di… #ScientificDiscoveries #CornMonth

🌽 USDA-ARS in Ames, Iowa is seeking a Research Geneticist (Plants) to advance crop improvement through genetics/genomics research focused on yield, quality, resilience, and protection against pests, pathogens, and abiotic stress. Closes July 15, 2026 usajobs.gov/job/872588000

In #ScientificDiscoveries, learn how ARS researchers are harnessing the power of AI to improve the efficiency and resilience of important U.S. crops. The development of the new DNA language model, called PlantCAD, enables plant breeders to enhance disease and pest-resistant traits – improving crop health for U.S. farmers and growers. scientificdiscoveries.ars.usda.gov/explore-our-di…

Registration is open for a AG2PI virtual workshop (June 15) about GWAS using SVENETICS. Participants will learn how to run multi-trait GWAS through an easy-to-use web app interface, using maize data as an example. No coding required. Register: go.iastate.edu/Z6TPRY

USDA-ARS is hiring Research Geneticists (Plants) across multiple locations, including those focusing on maize research. Help advance crop genetics, genomics, breeding, and food security. Apply by June 25: usajobs.gov/job/868877900

Tired of translating everything to B73 IDs just to run GO enrichment? Introducing FETA: a one-stop functional enrichment tool for all 26 maize NAM genomes. Includes multiple ontology types, RNA-seq integration, and paper-ready figures. Led by @ohaley93 feta.maizegdb.org

We are saddened that Dr. Major Goodman passed away on March 29, 2026. Major was a pioneering maize geneticist whose work advanced the understanding of global maize diversity, genetic markers, breeding, and germplasm conservation. cals.ncsu.edu/news/rememberi…

Check out the latest #GENETICS paper that describes how the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (@MaizeGDB) is building an #AI-ready infrastructure by standardizing datasets, precomputing complex features, and providing reproducible workflows. 🌽 buff.ly/dEyq4fQ

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In Scientific Discoveries, learn how ARS researchers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to study fungal pathogens to help corn growers save their crops. Corn is the most important U.S. crop in terms of total production, with a value of $79.5 billion over the past four years. loom.ly/Mrq3NhM

New at MaizeGDB: The "Site Map" is a detailed launchpad to our tools, datasets, and resources. From the "Explore MaizeGDB" link in our menu, jump to Data Centers, JBrowse, BLAST, SNPversity, PanEffect, Phylostrata, Fusarium Protein Toolkit, and more. maizegdb.org/sitemap

🌽New tool at MaizeGDB: Explore evolutionary origins of maize proteins! Search up to 100 genes to visualize conservation or to download homologs’ subcellular localization & GO terms! Whole-genome results available for download for B73 and the NAM founders. phylostrata.maizegdb.org

Newly published work from Elly Poretsky and @GrainGenes on understanding the structural variability of Pfam protein domains using AlphaFold2 across 16 model organisms. They observed substantial variation across Pfam families. doi.org/10.1002/prot.7…

microPublication (@Micropub7n) is a good resource to publish research from class or rotation projects. It is fast, peer‑reviewed, and citable. Here is a recent example from @DafangW. micropublication.org/journals/biolo…

Why do some predicted protein structures fold poorly? Benchmarking AlphaFold, ESMFold, and Boltz in maize biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #biorxiv_bioinfo

Dear maize geneticists, we are compiling missense mutations linked to visible phenotypes in maize. If you know of studies with such data, pls let us know through Twitter or email @liu3zhen@ksu.edu. Thank you! @MaizeGDB

New data from the Bob Schmitz lab (Marand 2025) on cell type-specific cis-regulation in maize! This study, in @ScienceMagazine, reveals how DNA changes impact expression and maize traits. Explore the 176 tracks on our browser (Epigenetics and DNA Binding) science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

We're excited to share PlantCAD browser tracks: a new, unpublished dataset integrating AI techniques for plant genome analysis. Explore it here: github.com/andorfc/PlantC… We welcome the community's feedback and innovative use cases for this data!

🌽 New browser tracks: Dr. Laura Tibbs-Cortes aligned proteomes spanning 11 evolutionary levels (from E. coli to sorghum) aligned to B73, NAM & PanAnd maize genomes! Additional tools coming soon! jbrowse.maizegdb.org/?loc=chr2%3A23…