Biotech Updates

Stevia Plant Genome Sequence Revealed for the First Time

October 25, 2017

Scientists from PureCircle Stevia Institute and KeyGene have completed the sequencing of the stevia plant genome. Stevia is a plant-based, zero-calorie sweetener which has been approved by all major regulatory authorities globally for use in foods and beverages in over 150 countries.

Researchers identified several million potentially new markers in the assembled genomes, which will help facilitate optimization of the levels of the best-tasting steviol glycosides, including improvements in the levels of the well-known minor glycosides, Reb D and Reb M.

The annotated, high-quality genome sequences of three stevia cultivars have been integrated into CropPedia, a comprehensive bioinformatics platform developed by KeyGene for visualization and analytics of all available genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic stevia datasets.

For more details, visit the PureCircle Stevia Institute.