From this to a chocolate bar in 79,000 easy steps. Photo by kaiyanwong223 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/33623636@N08/
Remember when two rival organizations were racing to sequence the human genome? Well, it’s happening again; this time with something that is, to some, nearly as precious as their own life: chocolate.
The USDA and Mars (the candy company, not the planet nor the god of war) have just this morning announced that they have sequenced the genome for cacao, a move that they say paves (or should we say frosts?) the way to making healthier, more sustainably produced chocolate: pest and disease resistant, higher yielding, able to withstand drought, etc.
Meanwhile, back in Pennsylvania, a consortium of Penn State, the French government and Hershey has also completed the sequencing…but they can’t announce their findings till a paper in a scientific journal is released.
Get the details in this Times article: “Rival Candy Projects Both Parse Cocoa’s DNA.”**
The information on the cacao genome is available publicly, at the Cacao Genome Database. In an important move to keep this information public, those who use it must agree not to patent anything from their findings–a tremendously serious consideration, given the important controversies that have arisen concerning the patenting of genetic sequences.
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**I bet this is just what it felt like when Leibniz and Newton were contending for the title of “Inventor of Calculus.” That particular rivalry has been memorialized in two fine cookies, the Fig Newton and the Leibniz Butter Cake. (Okay, I am only half telling the truth; Fig Newtons are really named for Newton, Mass.) Just think of how we could honor the rivalry between two claimants for the title “Cacao Genome Sequencers.” It would have to involve ganache.)