By a GenomeWeb staff reporter
NEW YORK, April 21 (GenomeWeb News) - Brazilian scientists on Tuesday announced the completion of the mapping of a portion of the genome of the Coffea arabica variety of coffee, according to news reports.
A team of researchers from the Brazilian Consortium on Coffee Research and Development, and a network of 20 laboratories coordinated by the State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp), conducted the research, which began in February 2002.
The researchers investigated some 200,000 genetic sequences of the plant's genome related to stress. The data is being stored at the Sao Paulo State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and at Embrapa, Brazil's Agricultural Research Organization, according to Reuters.
Brazil is the world's leading producer and exporter of coffee, of which approximately 70 percent is of the arabica variety, which is considered the highest quality.
