IGA is continously improving the assembly of the genome of the Coffea arabica variety 'Bourbon', in a collaborative project with the coffee roasting companies illycaffè and Lavazza and scientific partners. We are using multiple approaches as the sequencing technologies evolve and improve from whole-genome shotgun NGS and NGS of BAC pools to long-read sequencing.
A coffee genome reference sequence derived from the diploid species Coffea canephora is already available to the scientific community.
The Italian consortium of the coffee industry, pioneered by illycaffè and Lavazza, has funded the challenging effort of sequencing the tetraploid genome of Coffea arabica, the cultivated species with the finest bean and cup quality that accounts for 59 % of the world’s coffee production. We have used the historical variety 'Bourbon', the founder of quality coffee varieties, to assemble a reference genome for Coffea arabica.
Thanks to a collaboration with World Coffee Research, the multifasta file of the assembled sequence scaffolds is freely downloadable here.
Scalabrin et al (2020) A single polyploidization event at the origin of the tetraploid genome of Coffea arabica is responsible for the extremely low genetic variation in wild and cultivated germplasm. Scientific Reports 10(1):4642
A chromosome-level assembly based on Oxford Nanopore Tech reads has been released in NCBI as of December 2023.
Scalabrin et al (2024) A chromosome-scale assembly reveals chromosomal aberrations and exchanges generating genetic diversity in Coffea arabica germplasm. Nature Communications 15(1):462
Funded by Italian coffee industry, illycaffè and Lavazza
Status: current project