UF/IFAS Research Unlocks Vanilla DNA Mystery

Agri NEWS

- LOURDES RODRIGUEZ

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SCIENTISTS have developed a tool to unlock the genetic traits that pinpoint the vanilla variety that produces an abundance of beans, grows efficiently and sustainably, with consumer-approved taste.

As part of their breeding program, scientists with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) believe their work is an essential tool that will be used to make growing vanilla a successful South Florida crop for commercial and home growers.

In collaboration with the team at Elo Life Systems, a North Carolina-based food and agriculture company, Alan Chambers, tropical plant geneticist at UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center, co-led the generation of a “chromosomescale” sequencing of Vanilla DNA. Four vanilla species were sequenced from a 300-plus collection established at the Homestead research facility. As a result, genetic information was revealed which lays the groundwork for desired genetic traits.