Scientists have created the highest quality reference genome to date of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica), the world's most popular coffee species. The genome could be key to decoding mysteries of the coffee species' past, and the information obtained can help devise ways to allow the plant to better resist climate change in the future.
Coffea arabica developed over 600,000 years ago in the forests of Ethiopia through natural mating between two other coffee species, according to a new study. Natural hybridisation between Coffea canephora and Coffea eugenioides resulted in the creation of Coffea Arabica.
Over thousands of years, the population of Arabica coffee increased and declined throughout different heating and cooling periods of the planet, the study, published April 15 in the journal Nature Genetics, and led by researchers at the University at Buffalo, said.
Around 60 per cent of the world's total coffee products come from Arabica. The coffee served by coffee giants like Starbucks and Tim Hortons is brewed from coffee seeds of Arabica plants because they have an enchanting smell. However, due to a history of inbreeding and a small population size, Arabica is prone to diseases and can only be cultivated in regions where pathogen threats are minimal, and climate conditions are favourable.
Albert said that a detailed understanding of the origins and breeding history of contemporary varieties is important to develop new Arabica cultivars that are better adapted to climate change.
The researchers sequenced 39 Arabica varieties, and an 18th century specimen used by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus to name the species, to obtain the reference genome.
Patrick Descombes, one of the co-authors on the paper, said the researchers used state-of-the-art genomic approaches to create the most advanced, complete, and continuous Arabica reference genome to date.
Coffea arabica was a product of allopolyploidization.
By : Radifah Kabir