The study by Matsuoka et al. challenges the multiple domestication hypothesis for maize, suggesting that all maize arose from a single domestication event in southern Mexico about 5,000 years ago. Using 99 microsatellite loci genotyped in 264 individual plants, the researchers found that maize forms a monophyletic lineage derived from *Zea mays ssp. parviglumis*. This conclusion is supported by phylogenetic analyses and principal component analysis (PCA), which show that the oldest maize types are from the Mexican highlands. The study also indicates that maize spread over the Americas along two major paths: one through western and northern Mexico to the eastern U.S. and Canada, and another through the western and southern lowlands to South America and the Andes Mountains. Postdomestication gene flow from *teosinte* into maize is modest, with only a small percentage of the Mexican maize gene pool attributed to *teosinte* subspecies *mexicana*. The findings suggest that maize diversified in the highlands before spreading to the lowlands, aligning with archaeological evidence.The study by Matsuoka et al. challenges the multiple domestication hypothesis for maize, suggesting that all maize arose from a single domestication event in southern Mexico about 5,000 years ago. Using 99 microsatellite loci genotyped in 264 individual plants, the researchers found that maize forms a monophyletic lineage derived from *Zea mays ssp. parviglumis*. This conclusion is supported by phylogenetic analyses and principal component analysis (PCA), which show that the oldest maize types are from the Mexican highlands. The study also indicates that maize spread over the Americas along two major paths: one through western and northern Mexico to the eastern U.S. and Canada, and another through the western and southern lowlands to South America and the Andes Mountains. Postdomestication gene flow from *teosinte* into maize is modest, with only a small percentage of the Mexican maize gene pool attributed to *teosinte* subspecies *mexicana*. The findings suggest that maize diversified in the highlands before spreading to the lowlands, aligning with archaeological evidence.