The role of environment, local adaptation, and past climate fluctuation on the amount and distribution of genetic diversity in two subspecies of Mexican wild Zea mays

Premise Past climate fluctuations during the Holocene and Pleistocene shaped the distribution of several plant species in temperate areas over the world. Wild maize, commonly known as teosinte, is a good system to evaluate the effects of historical climate fluctuations on genetic diversity due to its wide distribution in Mexico with contrasting environmental conditions. We explored the influence of contemporary factors and historical environmental shifts on genetic diversity, including present and three historical periods using neutral markers. Methods We used 22 nuclear microsatellite loci to examine the genetic diversity of 14 populations of Zea mays subsp. parviglumis and 15 populations of Zea mays subsp. mexicana (527 individuals total). We implemented genetic structure analyses to evaluate genetic differentiation between and within subspecies. We applied coalescent‐based demographic analysis and species distribution modeling to evaluate the effects of historical environmental shifts. Results We found 355 alleles in total for the two subspecies and variable levels of diversity in each (Z. mays subsp. parviglumis expected heterozygosity HE = 0.3646–0.7699; Z. mays subsp. mexicana HE = 0.5885–0.7671). We detected significant genetic structure among populations (DEST = 0.4332) with significant heterozygote deficiency (FIS = 0.1796), and variable selfing rates (sg2 = 0.0–0.3090). The Bayesian assignment analysis differentiated four genetic groups. Demographic and species distribution modeling analysis suggested that environmental shifts were influential in the amount of genetic diversity. Conclusions Our analyses suggest that the current genetic diversity in teosinte is shaped by factors such as local adaptation and genetic isolation, along with historical environmental fluctuations.