Breeding up an Aussie coffee brew

It is estimated that around 10 million metric tons of coffee is produced every year, making it one of the most traded commodities in the world.

With around 60% of coffee products worldwide being made from Arabica (Coffea arabica), researchers have been working to gain an understanding of its origins in order to develop it further.

The long-awaited genome sequencing of Arabica coffee could even be the solution to producing a high-quality variety of Australian coffee, according to a University of Queensland researcher.

Professor Robert Henry from Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation was part of a large international team which mapped the genome of Arabica, thought to be the first species of coffee cultivated.

“Ten years ago, this group mapped the genome of the simpler Robusta coffee — we now understand the origins of the two most common coffee varieties in the world,” Henry said.

This research could potentially help to develop a wider genetic range of coffee that could be grown in different climates.

“The cooler high-altitude areas where high-quality coffee is produced are declining, so those environments are not as favourable as they once were,” Henry said.

“We need new varieties that cope better with production in various environments.”

As coffee is a high-value crop, the genome work was important.

“The Arabica genome was difficult to complete because it’s more genetically complex and has twice as many chromosomes as Robusta.

“But technological advances in recent years have allowed us to finally complete the work,” Henry said. 

Henry’s team is now part of a project to sequence the coffee genus, funded by Brazil and France, which will look at more than 30 species.

“This study will help us understand how we can incorporate different levels of flavour and aroma, including caffeine, bitterness and sugar content, to breed high-quality coffees that could grow in a wider range of environments,” Henry said.

“Because our production costs are so high, any coffee produced here has to be of high value, and so the challenge is to develop the technology and varieties to produce premium quality in Australian environments.”

The findings have been published in Nature Genetics.

Image credit: iStock.com/GeorgHanf