In Russian, the word “cocoa” means the Theobroma cacao tree, the seeds of this tree, the powder that is made from these seeds, as well as the drink obtained from this powder. The word "theobroma" is translated from ancient Greek as "food of the gods." It is believed that the ancient Mayans were the first to use cocoa as food three thousand years ago.

Since then, the fruits of the cocoa tree (otherwise known as the chocolate tree) have become widespread throughout the planet. Every year, the world produces 4.7 million tons of cocoa. Different varieties and growing technologies have appeared. For example, in America cocoa is cultivated on large plantations, while in Africa it is grown and produced by small enterprises.

Many growers choose to grow hybrid cocoa trees. Although the resulting chocolate is of lower quality, such trees are less resistant to disease. In order to correct the situation, a group of scientists from 23 organizations spent a lot of time and money and deciphered the genome of the criolo cocoa tree, the most elite variety of cocoa. Criolo, as a rule, has less acid, almost no bitterness, and along with a mild taste, it has a pronounced additional aroma. Other varieties have a characteristic cocoa taste and are partly bitter or sour.<2>

The results of the scientists' work on deciphering the cocoa genome were published in the journal Nature Genetics .

An important discovery was that only 20% of the genome consists of transposable elements, which are a consequence of natural changes in the genetic sequence. “This is significantly less than in other plant species, and thus could lead to a slower evolution of chocolate plants, resulting in a relatively simple genome structure,” says one of the authors, Siela Maksimova from Pennsylvania State University (USA ) .

The study allowed scientists to identify a large number of genes that are responsible for the taste of cocoa and may be involved in disease resistance.

Lead author Xavier Argue of the Center for International Cooperation in Agronomic Research (CIRAD) in Montpellier , France, and his colleagues identified two families of disease-resistant genes. Thus, scientists were able to propose a way in which it is likely possible to develop a less disease-prone subspecies of the Criolo variety. However, this method requires additional testing.<3>

The second direction of work by Argu and his colleagues was the search for genes responsible for taste. One of the valuable components of cocoa beans is cocoa butter - fat squeezed from the seeds of the chocolate tree.

Researchers have identified 84 genes that control not just the quantity of cocoa butter, but also its quality.

Several hundred genes identified by researchers are responsible for the quantity and quality of other components of cocoa fruits, such as: natural antioxidants, pigments, aromatic components, flavonoids (phenolic compounds that have a number of beneficial properties, including antibacterial/antimicrobial effects) and terpenoids (organic compounds that are active participants in metabolic processes occurring in plants).<4>

The results of this work in the future will make it possible to increase the production of cocoa (and, accordingly, chocolate), which will also be more tasty, aromatic and healthy.

In addition to these practical applications, the scientists' findings may also have political implications. A political crisis erupted in Côte d'Ivoire in December, and since the African country exports more than half of all cocoa beans, the global chocolate market was under threat. Thus, during the first week of the conflict, the price of cocoa beans jumped by 23%. Producing improved quality cocoa could allow the global chocolate market to be less sensitive to events in Ivory Coast.

The cocoa genome has been deciphered