Coffee Genome Sequenced: Study Could Lead to Revolution in Coffee Industry
America's favorite morning beverage is a multi-billion dollar industry that can further profit from new research that cracked the code to the genetic material of coffee.
The study was done by researchers at the University of Buffalo, in New York, and the French National Sequencing Center (CEA-Genoscope), but included contributions from the Agricultural Research Center for International Development in France, and researchers from public and private organizations in the U.S., France, Italy, Canada, Germany, China, Spain, Indonesia, Brazil, Australia and India, according to the University.
"Coffee is as important to everyday early risers as it is to the global economy," said Philippe Lashermes, a researcher in the study, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
According to estimates by the International Coffee Organization, more than 8.7 million tons of coffee were produced in 2013, revenue from exports amounted to $15.4 billion in 2009-2010, and the sector employed nearly 26 million people in 52 countries during 2010, the University of Buffalo reported.
Researchers learned that the caffeine found in coffee is different from tea and chocolate, and it did not "inherit caffeine-linked genes from a common ancestor but instead developed the genes on its own," UB said.
Science reported an evolution of caffeine in coffee has occurred twice, based on the findings, and this is the first genome sequence mapped in the family of the species, which includes milkweeds, periwinkles and the species that supplies quinine.
"The coffee genome helps us understand what's exciting about coffee -- other than that it wakes me up in the morning," lead researcher Victor Albert said. "By looking at which families of genes expanded in the plant, and the relationship between the genome structure of coffee and other species, we were able to learn about coffee's independent path."
They studied coffeea canephora, commonly called "robusta," which is native to West Africa but grows mainly in Africa, Brazil and Southeast Asia and accounts for 30 percent of the world's coffee production, according to La Tercera.
Dani Zamir, at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that the challenge now is to use the decoded genomes as tools for growing better plants and therefore benefiting the coffee industry.
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