Scientists from Penn State University have recently developed a new variety of cacao modified to better resist disease, which may be the solution the chocolate industry has been searching for.

Over the past decades, Mark Guiltinan, J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany and professor of plant molecular biology in the Department of Plant Sciences at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, and alongside Siela Maximova, have worked towards the vital development of new a cacao variety modified to better withstand current threats to global supply.

Black pod disease alone poses considerable risk for cacao production, estimated to equate for 30 per cent of yield losses worldwide. Additionally, the plant’s need for a stable rainforest environment, has made traditional cacao particularly vulnerable to recent environmental changes.

However, using gene-editing technology (CRISPR), the Penn State scientists modified a cacao gene known as TcNPR3, increasing the plant’s ability to fight subsequent pathogen infection.

Their newly developed cacao variety carries a specific genetic modification for disease tolerance, without being needing to be categorised as a genetically modified organism or GMO, within US and European Union regulatory frameworks.

“In one case, we only changed two bases in the entire genome of the plant,” Dr Guiltinan said.

“Out of roughly 450 million bases, that single change resulted in about a 42 per cent reduction in disease under laboratory conditions.”

A recent licencing agreement with biotechnology company AgroNetica, aims to translate their groundbreaking discovery into technologies designed to preserve commercial supply chains —ensuring the ongoing sustainability of cacao production.

Dr Guiltinan believes this commercialisation opportunity makes a vital step towards securing the future of chocolate production worldwide —proactively addressing imminent risks of climate change and widespread disease.

“For consumers, chocolate is something they expect to find on store shelves every day, but behind that product is a crop and industry facing significant challenges,” he said.

“Our goal is to develop tools that help growers continue producing cacao sustainably and profitably.”

Set to undergo advanced field testing of the new variety, AgroNetica, hopes to soon market the product to commercial growers in coming years.

“Thanks to this long-term investment in research and maintaining a sustained program, we now have an opportunity to begin getting technologies developed here in the lab closer to the hands of farmers,” Dr Maximova said

“We’re now at the place where we have a partner whose expertise is moving these discoveries into real-world use.”