Two teams of researchers are reporting success in sequencing the genomes for the strawberry and cocoa.
An international team of 70 researchers collaborated to sequence the genome of a woodland strawberry while a separate international team has successfully decoded the genome for Criollo, an expensive variety of cocoa used to make fine chocolate. Both teams were funded by a mixture of academic, U.S. government and industry sources and their results are published in the journal Nature Genetics.
The research offers the potential to create new varieties of strawberry and cocoa that will be more disease resistant, weather tolerant, flavorful and nutritious, or so say the researchers.
While I'm supportive of scientific research, and undecided about the benefits and risks of genetic modification of food, I'm definitely concerned about the practical implementation of such research. If the history of the last 30 years is any guide, the most likely outcome of genetic tinkering is likely to be new varieties that are tailored to meet today's commercial requirements -- less perishable, easier to ship, visually more appealing --not varieties that are better tasting or are more nutritious.
It will probably take five to ten years before strawberries modified based on this research appear on grocery store shelves, so it will be a long-time before we know how these discoveries play out in the marketplace.
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