“When cacao production was threatened by disease, the Mars candy company launched a global initiative to sequence the plant’s genome.
The Roche 454 GS FLX + DNA gene sequencer, which was produced from 2005 to 2015, is actually a bit shorter than a refrigerator: it weighs more than 500 pounds, according to official product specifications. The Roche machine is also unique: it was the first next-generation gene sequencer to be sold commercially. It used a then-new technology known as sequencing-by-synthesis to tease apart the sequence of bases that comprise genetic code.
In 2008, inspired by the rise of sequencing technology, candy company Mars, Inc., under the direction of Howard Shapiro, agreed to contribute $10 million to fund a multinational project to sequence the entire T. cacao genome. A complete copy could speed up the breeding process by allowing scientists and breeders to more quickly pinpoint which specific genes guard against disease. Because the tree is tropical, a multinational consortium evolved to work on the cacao genome project. A team in Costa Rica sampled a local T. cacao tree. Kuhn’s lab in Miami helped extract the plant’s genetic material, and then sent that material on to labs where the genetic material was processed and sequenced.”
Read more, see pictures at smithsonianmag.com.