Chocolate Genome To Yield Chocolates That Taste Better

When I’m not at my best, I look for something to pick me up. Picker-uppers always do the trick for me. It goes without saying that chocolate is my favorite, for that matter.

It’s good to know Genome Biology has got my back covered. They have launched a fully sequenced genome for the cacao plant which is said to yield even better tasting chocolates.

Juan C Motamayor from Mars Incorporated has worked alongside his colleagues in the field of chocolate breeding. Sounds fantastic until you realize you need to study a whole lot of genetics stuff and you’re not in it for the chocolate eating. Yup, what a bummer! Their goal is to sequence the genome of the most famous variety of Theobroma cacao L., namely the green podded Costa Rican Matina.

They claim that through highlighting the gene that has something to do with color variation, they could produce a way cross-modify the Matina, which has a very high yield, with another variety, one that tastes better but that has a lower yield.

Conventional cross breeding had gone through several experiments over the years. In Ecuador, a high yielding plant with red pods was mixed with a better tasting plant with green pods. However, this only lessened the overall quality of the chocolate.

Experimentation is the act of getting things wrong a couple of times, as a matter of fact. The genetic markers may be used to screen young seedlings and choose the best plants even before they reach a mature stage.