Even tastier fish and chips on the way after scientists crack cod's genetic code



Fish and chips could soon be even more tempting.

Scientists have cracked the genetic code of cod, paving the way for more flavoursome or succulent fish.

However, cod that come already battered would be a bit of a stretch.

Breakthrough: After uncovering the genetic blueprint of the North Atlantic cod, fish experts can now work out which genes are key to taste

With the potato’s genetic secrets peeled away just a few weeks ago, tastier fish and chips could be on the horizon.

The genetic blueprint of the North Atlantic cod shows it contains 22,154 genes, a similar number to people.

Fish experts can now work out which genes are key to taste and use the information to breed extra-tasty cod.

Other possibilities include cod that grow more rapidly, making them highly profitable for fish farmers.

This could be done through natural breeding or through genetic modification.

GM salmon that grow at two to three times the normal rate have been created in the past.

Kjetill Jakobsen, who led the team of Norwegian scientists that cracked the cod’s cod, said: ‘The opinion in Norway and in the aquaculture industry is that there is some resistance against genetically modifying organisms.’

The University of Oslo research also revealed the cod’s immune system to lack a key component thought to be in all fish, as well as mammals.

Knowing this could help scientist better create vaccines that protect farmed cod against disease.

The research, detailed in the journal Nature, may also help replenish dwindling wild stocks, although over-fishing is largely to blame there.

Last month, a separate team of scientists cracked the potato’s genetic code.

They found it contains at least 39,000 genes, nearly double the number in humans.

The potato is the is the world’s third most popular food crop after rice, with more than 300million tonnes grown globally each year but a quirk of its genetics have made it difficult to breed new varieties and it is at the mercy of pests and diseases.

The breakthrough could allow the grow strains that are resistant to drought and to diseases like the blight behind the devastating Irish potato famine of the 19th century.

Higher-yielding crops would improve availability an ever-more populated world.

While new varieties better-suited to cooking hold the promise of tastier chips.

Chips are a French invention that became a British tradition. It is thought the first 'pommes frites' were served in the 1700s with Britons not developing a taste for them until the 1850s.

Today, one out of every four British potatoes is made into chips - that's some 1.5million tonnes a year - or enough potatoes to stretch around the world 76 times.