Agricultural Research Service scientists, in
partnership with Mars Inc. are applying modern molecular genetic techniques to
developing disease-resistant and productive cacao (Theobroma cacao)
trees. Photo courtesy of Microsoft clipart. |
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Sequencing the Cacao Genome to Safeguard
Chocolate
By Alfredo Flores June 26, 2008
During the past 15 years, the global cocoa industry has confronted a
trio of devastating fungal diseases that cost growers an estimated $700 million
in losses annually. Now scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Subtropical
Horticultural Research Station (SHRS) in Miami, Fla., are developing
productive cacao (Theobroma cacao) trees resistant to these diseases:
witches' broom, frosty pod and black pod.
The research has been based upon traditional varietal selection and
breeding, enhanced by the use of molecular (DNA-derived) markers associated
with disease resistance.
Field trials involving foreign cooperators are under way in South
America, West Africa, Central America and Papua New Guinea to evaluate
potential disease-resistant cocoa trees. Several of these tree selections were
based upon disease-tolerance genes discovered in Miami.
Since 1999, ARS researchers at the SHRS, led by plant geneticist
Ray
Schnell, have worked in partnership with
Mars Inc., the worlds
largest manufacturer of chocolate-related products, to apply modern molecular
genetic techniques to cocoa production.
This research, in collaboration with institutes in the Americas and
Africa, has produced genetic linkage maps for cacao populations, segregating
for resistance to the three fungal diseases. Today a new partnership was
announced between ARS, Mars Inc., and IBM
with the goal of sequencing the entire cacao genome. Once completed, the
research results will be released into the public domain.
The partnership to sequence the cacao genome is financially backed and
coordinated by Mars Inc. of McLean, Va. Scientific support is provided by SHRS
in Miami, in collaboration with scientists at IBMs
Thomas J. Watson Research
Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. The IBM team will use its Blue Gene
supercomputer to analyze the cocoa genome. This is the first time that all
three research groups are collaborating.
In addition to the three major partners, Washington State University will assist Schnell
in developing detailed genetic maps and assembling the sequence fragments into
the complete genome sequence.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of
Agriculture.