Genetics: Study of the genetic history of Arabica coffee Nature Communications | Nature wallet

The Coffea arabica genome assembly, which supports approximately 60% of the world's coffee production, has been improved, revealing some sources of genetic diversity that may contribute to the unique flavor and pathogen resistance in Arabica coffee. The paper reporting this isNature CommunicationsPublished in

Commercially available coffee is produced primarily from Coffea canephora and Coffea arabica, known as Coffea Robusta and Coffea arabica, respectively. Arabica coffee is derived from a cross between the ancestor of modern Robusta coffee and another closely related species, Coffea Eugenioides. The result of this hybridization is the flavor of Arabica coffee and a large and complex genome, which creates challenges for breeding and genetic research. Currently, several partial genome assemblies are available for Coffea arabica, but the mechanisms generating genetic diversity have not been elucidated.

Now, Michele Morgante, Gabriele de Gaspero, and their colleagues have used the latest sequencing technologies to create a more complete genome assembly of Arabica coffee than ever before, allowing detailed structural analysis of its chromosomes. It is now possible to analyze genomes that include previously unexplored regions (e.g., pericentromeric regions), and to identify differences in the structure, function and evolution of genomes derived from the two parental species (Coffea robusta and C. eugeniodes). I discovered something. In particular, differences were observed in genes involved in caffeine biosynthesis. They also analyzed the genomes of 174 samples collected from different Arabica coffee species, and found that genetic diversity within Arabica coffee species is very low. It has been found that some cultivated Arabica coffees are highly diverse in specific genomic regions, and two factors that contribute to this diversity are chromosomal abnormalities and Robusta Arabica (Timor hybrid) hybrids. The chromosome segment was shown to be derived from Timor hybrids that have become the parent strain of many current varieties, combining disease resistance of Robusta coffee with the unique flavor of Arabica coffee.

The authors believe that genetic diversity in Arabica coffee is critical to the commercial success of Arabica coffee, and that the findings could help in the development of new coffee varieties with desirable traits such as disease resistance or new flavor profiles.

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-44449-8

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