05-09-2014
coffee plant genome sequencing and analysis
Researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio) have participated in an international consortium which has newly sequenced the genome of the coffee plant Coffea canephora. The study, which has just been published in the prestigious journal Science, reveals secrets about the evolution of caffeine. Results show that genes involved in caffeine evolved independently from genes with similar functions in tea and chocolate.
Julio Rozas, professor from the Department of Genetics of the Faculty of Biology at UB and ICREA Academia researcher, and Pablo Lirando, UB postdoctoral researcher, have participated in the analysis of coffee DNA sequences as members of the international research team led by the Institute of Research for Development (IRD, France), the National Sequencing Center (CEA-Genoscope, France) and the University at Buffalo (United States).