Molecular geneticists have known for about a decade that genomic structural variants can play important roles in the adaptation and speciation of both plants and animals, but their overall influence on the fitness of plant ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 16, 2021
0
53
As Halloween revelers prepare to feast on chocolate, a new study from an international team of researchers, including the University of British Columbia, is pushing back the origins of the delicious sweet treat.
Archaeology
Oct 29, 2018
0
243
A rapidly spreading virus threatens the health of the cacao tree and the dried seeds from which chocolate is made, jeopardizing the global supply of the world's most popular treat.
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 23, 2024
0
218
The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), whose beans (cocoa) are used to make products including chocolate, liquor and cocoa butter, may have spread from the Amazon basin to the other regions of South and Central America at least ...
Archaeology
Mar 7, 2024
0
72
It was the money that grew on trees.
Archaeology
Sep 26, 2022
0
321
In the cultivation of organic cacao, many factors determine the yield. An international research team with scientists from the universities of Würzburgh and Göttingen has now identified important players and their combined ...
Ecology
Sep 14, 2022
0
24
Committed chocoholics, be warned. A health-robbing heavy metal, cadmium, lurks in the velvety recesses of your favorite indulgence.
Ecology
Feb 2, 2022
1
430
As much as modern society worships chocolate, cacao—the plant chocolate comes from—it was believed to be even more divine to ancient Mayas. The Maya considered cacao beans to be a gift from the gods and even used them ...
Archaeology
Jan 31, 2022
0
424
For the first time, Penn State researchers have identified a gene that controls flowering in cacao, a discovery that may help accelerate breeding efforts aimed at improving the disease-ridden plant, they suggested.
Biotechnology
May 17, 2021
0
55
The finding of relatively high levels of the antimicrobial compound clovamide in the leaves of a disease-resistant strain of cacao has significant implications for breeding trees that can tolerate black pod rot, according ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 23, 2020
1
43
