Read the given passage and answer the six questions that follow.
On a chilly winter evening, nothing warms you up better than a cup of hot cocoa. Chocolate was first consumed in liquid form by the Olmec people of northwestern Central America around 1500 BCE. It was even enjoyed by the Aztec Emperor Montezuma, and the Aztec word for it (xocolatl, pronounced shoh-kwah-tl) evolved into the English word Chocolate.
But the Aztecs didn’t serve their cocoa hot. And since sugar had not yet arrived from Europe, back then, the drink was often flavoured with peppers and spices. It may not have been quite as indulgent as today’s version, but it was more palatable if you believed, as the Aztecs did, that chocolate was a gift from the Gods and had healing properties.
After the Spanish arrived in the Americas in the 1500s, liquid chocolate made its way across the pond, where wealthy Europeans added sugar and drank it warm. In Chocolate: History, Culture and Heritage, author Bertram Gordon says hot chocolate became ‘‘the beverage of the aristocracy,’’ as sugar was still a luxury.
Soon enough, though, hot choclate caught on with the masses. Chocolate houses — a cross between cafes and casinos — started popping up around 17th-century Europe. In these lively places, hot chocolate was poured from gilded pots into elegant cups (for a posh experience, one can still find it today at the famed Parisian tearoom Angelina’s, which is also in New York City). But by the end of the 18th century, chocolate houses had mostly died off, partly because the cost of chocolate was much higher than that of coffee or tea.
Taking a tour of international cups of cocoa, Italians serve it like a thick pudding. Colombians serve it with a dollop of soft cheese while Mexicans punch it up with vanilla, chilli powder and cinnamon. And Filipinos serve it with mango chunks.
The inquiry concerns which coffee species possesses over two sets of each chromosome. This phenomenon is known as polyploidy in biological terms, where an organism contains multiple paired (homologous) chromosome sets exceeding two. Arabica coffee exhibits this trait.
Arabica (Coffea arabica) is classified as an allotetraploid, signifying it has four chromosome sets, surpassing the diploid count found in species such as Coffea eugenioides and Robusta (Coffea canephora). Coffea eugenioides and Robusta typically possess two copies of each chromosome, making them diploid.
Consequently, Arabica, a polyploid coffee species, is the accurate response.
To identify the accurate statement regarding Coffea Arabica, we will evaluate the given choices by referencing established knowledge of its attributes:
Following this evaluation, the statement "It displays the phenomenon of polyploidy." accurately describes Coffea Arabica.
While the origins of different coffee species can be intricate, Coffea Arabica is recognized as a comparatively recent hybrid. It is the result of a cross between Coffea Canephora (known as Robusta) and Coffea Eugenioides. This natural hybridization is thought to have occurred within the last 50,000 years. Conversely, other coffee species, such as Robusta and Eugenioides, possess ancient lineages extending much further back in time.
To identify the type of variability that is not notably high in Coffea Arabica, we examine the given options:
The identified answer is DNA-level variability. Typically, Coffea Arabica displays comparatively lower DNA-level variability relative to the other mentioned variation types, impacting its capacity for adaptation and resilience.
To determine the factually inaccurate statement among the provided options, each will be evaluated using standard botanical and genetic principles applicable to coffee plants, with a focus on Coffea Arabica, a prevalent cultivated coffee species:
Therefore, the factually incorrect statement is: Due to its genetic make-up, novel mutations do not occur in the species Coffea Arabica.