Coffee’s genome is mapped, could improve the industry

What springs to mind when the phrase genetic research is thrown up? Perhaps you think about scientists searching to help find cures for diseases, or maybe the first thing that pops up is the idea of reproducing dinosaurs and creating your very own Jurassic Park.

But if you prefer your genetic research to be a little bit dark, quite bold and piping hot, you’ll be excited to know that scientists have deciphered and mapped out the genome of Robusta coffee.

The results may even help improve your cup in the future.

“We’re trying to understand the genetic control of the composition of the bean and then subsequently how that influences the ultimate quality of the coffee,” noted the molecular biologist Professor Robert Henry.

An internationally assembled team of researchers unveiled the sequence in the journal Science, and they pinpointed certain attributes that could help develop new variants that may protect the crop against drought, disease and pests, as well as enhancing flavour and aroma profiles.

“For any agricultural plant, having a genome is a prerequisite for any sort of high technology breeding or molecular modification,” said Victor Albert of the University of Buffalo, who was a prominent member of the research team.

“Without a genome, we couldn’t do any real advanced research on coffee that would allow us to improve it – not in this day and age.”

By mapping out its genome, one day food scientists could be able to genetically engineer coffee in order to naturally produce certain flavour profiles, potentially removing the need to blend different varieties of beans.

In addition to this, it is hoped that people would be able to develop strains which could potentially be cultivated in regions outside traditional growing areas – not to mention adapt them to be more resilient to extreme weather conditions.

Dani Zamir, of the Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said in an accompanying editorial piece that the “challenge [is now] to translate these decoded genomes into new and improved tools for plant breeding.

“The danger to the coffee crop should provide an incentive for all stakeholders to initiate international collaborations in [breeding projects] and [conservation efforts] with poor coffee-exporting countries.”

The team also made an important and exciting discovery relating to caffeine.

Present in a number of plants, the group found that the stimulant had a different biological pathway in coffee than it did in either tea or cocoa plants.

“Clearly [it is] particularly well-designed,” Albert carries on: “It has evolved independently at least three times.”