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Unwrapping the Chocolate Genome
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"It provides a health halo to a product that's otherwise considered unhealthy," he said.
The scientists expect it will take about a year to generate cocoa's raw DNA. The cocoa genome consists of about 500 million base pairs, whereas the human genome is made up of 3 billion base pairs.
Then it's up to three IBM scientists to analyze this data and look for patterns.
"That's where the fun begins," said Ajay Royyuru, senior manager of IBM's Computational Biology Center. "You have the sequence and you start asking what you can learn from the genome and you can get answers to these questions."
Once scientists identify the useful genes, they'll be able to accelerate the breeding process.
"You don't have to wait an entire crop cycle to find out if you selected the right plant or not," Royyuru said.
That'll be the key to healthier, stronger cocoa crops with higher yields. They'll be able to absorb water and nutrients more efficiently, and resist pests and disease.
"We'll have the full toolbox to use as opposed to the pocket full of tools we have now," Shapiro said.
And chocolate lovers will have the powers of science on their side.
