Joe Proudman / UC Davis
Arabic Coffee Genome Sequenced
Good Land Organics farmer Jay Ruskey, left, and UC Davis researcher Juan Medrano, right, look at coffee cherries at Good Land Organics in Goleta, Calif., on Dec. 15, 2016.
Researchers in California recently released the first public genome sequence for arabica coffee. With this information, varieties can be engineered to resist disease yet maintain quality.
The sequence was published Jan. 13 and posted on Phytozome.net, the public database for comparative plant genomics coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
“This new genome sequence for Coffea arabica contains information crucial for developing high-quality, disease-resistant coffee varieties that can adapt to the climate changes that are expected to threaten global coffee production in the next 30 years,” said Juan Medrano, co-researcher on the sequencing project and a geneticist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis.
“We hope that the C. arabica sequence will eventually benefit everyone involved with coffee - from coffee farmers, whose livelihoods are threatened by devastating diseases like coffee leaf rust, to coffee processors and consumers around the world,” he said in an article on the UC Davis website.
More information: http://bit.ly/2iEZAQk