Coffee's Genetic Secrets Revealed; Researchers Hope to Use Information to Produce New 'Supercoffee' Plants [PHOTO]

This past Thursday, an international team of researchers revealed a newly sequenced genome of the coffee plant. NBC News reports that the team mapped out the genes of Robusta coffee, and found out that the caffeine in coffee is not related to the type of caffeine found in chocolate or tea - it is a genetic quirk of its own.

University of Buffalo scientist and researcher Victor Albert commented, "It's an accident that has been frozen in place very likely by the influence of natural selection," explaining that coffee actually originally mutated to have caffeine.  NBC News explains that early on, the plant was able to survive because most bugs that chewed on its leaves didn't like the caffeine. However, pollinators like bees loved it, and the plant was able to spread.

Science Mag reports that the genome sequence is not only the first published coffee genome; it is also the first in its 11,000 or so species family, which includes milkweeds, periwinkles, and the species that supply quinine. Further analysis concludes that there are 23 new genes found only in coffee.

According to Reuters, the information given by the newly found coffee genome could help to develop "supercoffee" plants that are better able to withstand drought, disease, and pests. Furthermore, the plants could be grown to have enhanced flavors of coffee and caffeine levels.

Albert stated, "For any agricultural plant, having a genome is a prerequisite for any sort of technology breeding or molecular modification... Without a genome, we couldn't do any real advanced research on that would allow us to improve it - not in this day and age," emphasizing the significance of the genome sequence to advancements in coffee breeding.

Another researcher in the study, Philippie Lashermes, commented, "Coffee is as important to everyday early risers as it is to the global economy," suggesting that the new genetic information will also greatly impact the global market.