I. Foreword

The Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter exists for the benefit of the maize community as an informal vehicle for communication. Its inception and continuation has been to foster cooperation among those interested in investigating maize. This cooperation has distinguished our field from others and as a consequence has moved it forward at a pace greater than would have occurred otherwise. Your submissions are encouraged to disseminate knowledge about our field that might otherwise go unrecorded.

Because maize is both a commercial species and a genetic model system, the danger exists that the sharing of research materials might be diminished. It is imperative for us to work together to prevent this from occurring. Certainly, basic findings should be transferred to the industrial sector and basic advances in industry should be shared with the academic community for the benefit of both. Published materials must be shared for research purposes with the only restriction being against commercial use.

We remind the readers that contributions to the Newsletter do not constitute formal publications. Citations to them should be accompanied by permission from the authors if at all possible. Notes can be submitted at any time and are entered into MaizeDB. We set an arbitrary cutoff of January 1, 2006 for the next print copy, volume 80. Electronic submission is encouraged by sending your contributions as attachments, or as text of an email, to [email protected]. Submissions must require minimal editing to be accepted.

We encourage the community to carry studies of general scientific interest to the formal literature. However, there is a great need to share technical tips, protocols, mutant descriptions, map information, ideas and other isolated information useful in the lab and field. This year, we call special attention to the Genetic 2005 map (see PAGES 116-126), which is built on individual locus mapping experiments for well characterized mutants. Because this version of the Genetic map now includes the UMC 98 RFLP map, well-ordered mutants and AB translocation breakpoints are now easily included in the IBM neighbors maps.

This year, the assembly, correction of copy and posting to the WWW was performed by Elizabeth Welsh, a graduate student in the School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia. Elizabeth Welsh has been responsible for scanning, text conversion and copy-editing early Newsletters which will soon be available at the MaizeGDB. As in the past, Shirley Kowalewski has been responsible for final redaction and layout of the copy. She has performed this task with speed, precision and a great sense of humor. The maize community owes her much gratitude for her continued service in this capacity.

Mary Schaeffer

James A. Birchler

Co-editors