Mexico: Genome Sequence for Tequila Cactus

Geneticists working in Central Mexico have mapped the genome of the blue agave, a desert plant used to make tequila, after sequencing 35,000 genes in Agave tequilana Weber and identifying 4-5 genes which could be used to manipulate the agave's flowering and maturity process, something that could boost tequila production. Plants in the agave family die after producing a flowering stem, and slowing the progress toward flowering gives the plants a longer productive life. Other liquors are made using relatives of the blue agave, but only products of the sequenced plant distilled in the western Mexican state Jalisco can be called tequila. The project could also help identify other productive processes in the plant, including the production of herbal medicine.

Source: Peoples' Daily Online, 18^th September 2009