After rice, the second food crop to be fully sequenced genomically is the grape variety Pinot Noir. This grape variety is one of the first vines to be domesticated some 2,000 years ago which is grown around the world but most abundant in the Burgundy region of France.

"This is viticulture's equivalent of the first moonwalk. Wine making will never be the same," Riccardo Velasco, head of genetics and molecular biology at the Istituto Agrario San Michele all'Adige, told Discovery News.

The blueprint will make it possible to develop new, more resistant varieties that can produce superior wines, Velasco said.

The Italian researchers announced this good news at a news conference in Trento. Grape is the first fruit genome to be mapped, a development that will truly change the future of winemaking.

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Photo Source: [Discovery News]