Scientists of agriculture research, IBM, maker of M&M's, Mar's Inc., and Milky Way bars and other treats, have come together to fund and help research the priliminary sequence of the chocolate genome a.k.a. Cacao Geonome. Sure scientist find new genome sequences all the time but its the chocolate genome now and in all reality who doesn't love chocolate the slightest bit. Cacao is no ordinary plant, the plant has been studied for twenty years and is considered an "orphan crop" because it is not as well studies as most other crops. The outbreak of this genome database is important because in the long run help cacao farmers, companies, and tree crop productions. The key for cacao production is fungal resistance. Disease from fungus has costed the cacao industry $700 million dollars a year for the past 15 years, thats why the genome is such a big deal because it could help prevent from further losses.
No comments:
Post a Comment