TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

Computing a Sweeter Chocolate Future

Salvatore Salamone | Date: 11-09-10 | Comments

Sequencing of the cocoa genome was completed three years faster than expected due to the computing power of an IBM Blue Gene system. As a result, researchers will be able to more quickly use the sequence data to look for traits that improve cocoa tree yields and make the trees hardier, as well as develop strategies against droughts and cocoa blights.

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Computing a Sweeter Chocolate Future
While the economy might still be sour, one industry has high hopes that a newly completed genome will lead to sweet success.

Mars (the candy company), IBM and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have announced that they have sequenced the cocoa genome. The project was completed three years ahead of schedule, due in part to the availability of significant computing power of an IBM Blue Gene computer in the IBM Computational Biology Center.

As has been the case of genomes of other agricultural entities (including rice, corn and the grape), the hope is that the information will help improve cocoa production. Specifically, researchers hope to use the information to give farmers the ability to plant more robust, higher-yielding, and drought- and disease-resistant trees. Researchers also anticipate they will be able to determine which breeds of cocoa trees would thrive in specific regions and conditions such as those where water is scarce.

Cacao tree with fruit pods (source: Wikimedia Commons).

To do this, researchers hope to identify genetic markers for desirable traits that improve a plant's yield or make it stronger. Plants with these desirable qualities will be cross-bred. The most efficient, quickest and direct way to identify the markers responsible for controlling the traits of agronomic importance is through the cacao genome.

"By assembling the sequence fragments into the complete genome sequence and developing a detailed genetic map, we can help maximize the potential yield and income for cocoa farmers and catalyze future research and endeavors involving the cacao tree," said Ajay Royyuru, senior manager of the IBM Computational Biology Center.

The ultimate goal of the work is to increase crop yields. This is something essential to the world's 6.5 million cocoa growers, especially since many are in some of the poorest parts of the world. The farmers are mostly concentrated in Africa, Asia and South America. Small African farms produce the bulk (about 70 percent) of the cocoa in the world today.

Next: Cocoa Production Plagued by Serious Losses >>

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