If you are a chocoholic, you will love this piece of news --- Cocoa genome study to pave way for tasty chocolates.

Yes, it is is true that tasty chocolates are on their way. Let me tell you how.

The US chocolate firm Mars and IBM along with US Department of Agriculture have decoded the fine cocoa genome, Theobroma cacao also called the food of the Gods.  The researchers took an overall time of two years and two months to crack the genetic code. 

Through this research, scientists were able to trace out 29,000 genes and covered 76 percent of the estimated full genome. These research results would now be beneficial for the genetic improvement of cacao crops.

The harvesting of the cocoa trees began approximately 3,000 years ago and currently, about 3.7 million tons of cocoa is produced annually.

This fine cocoa is used for making rich chocolates which taste awesome and have a silky texture. However, only 5% of this cocoa was being used since these crops are susceptible to pests and disease.

The decoding of chocolate genome means that the scientists will be able to grow varieties of richer chocolates. This would pave way for some tasty chocolates and will also help the poor farmers in Africa and other developing countries who depend on cocoa production. It is estimated that approximately 3 million tons of cocoa are produced every year, and about 40- 50 million farmers and their families and depend on it for their livelihood. As per Professor Howard-Yana Shapiro of the University of California Davis, who led the research team Shapiro this decoding of cocoa genome would enable the production to raise to approximately 9 million tons by year 2020.

Professor Shapiro also said that he sequenced the genome because cocoa was little researched – an "orphan crop" left in the cold by agronomists and bioscientists.

The chocolate genome has not been patented; rather it has been placed online for a free use. The scientists said that this decoding will benefit the farmers using traditional methods, to grow stronger, productive and disease resistant crops.

Image credit- www.sciencebuddies.org