Tuli chats with Professor Michele Morgante, who is Full Professor of Genetics at the University of Udine in Italy and the Scientific Director of the Institute of Applied Genomics. 

There is a LOT of fascinating stuff in this episode. We cover everything from the evolutionary history of arabica, to the importance of genetic diversity, to the arabica 'mother tree', to oranges (which are a cross between pomelos and mandarins, by the way) and breeding via intentionally planting seedlings in radioactive soil.

This is the paper discussed in the conversation: A single polyploidization event at the origin of the tetraploid genome of Coffea arabica is responsible for the extremely low genetic variation in wild and cultivated germplasm