Juan C. Motamayor and Cacao’s Genetic Map
Men and Women of Cacao · History of Cacao
A label on a cacao tree can tell a convincing story and still be wrong. Material collected in different places may be closely related; material placed under one broad name may contain important differences. For breeders and conservationists, those mistakes can obscure the very diversity they need to understand.
Juan C. Motamayor and his collaborators approached the problem by comparing genetic evidence across a large collection of cacao material.
Beyond the familiar categories
For many years, cacao was discussed through broad categories such as Criollo and Forastero, with Trinitario recognized as hybrid material. Those names remained useful in particular contexts, but they did not adequately describe all of the genetic structure available to research. [1]
The 2008 team examined 1,241 accessions—entries in a collection—using 106 microsatellite markers. The work addressed mislabeled material before applying statistical analysis to the patterns of variation. [1]
Illustrated guide: The 2008 study’s method: 1,241 accessions, 106 markers and ten major genetic clusters. Sources and context below.
This was a collaborative study. Alongside Motamayor, the authors included Philippe Lachenaud, Jay Wallace da Silva e Mota, Rey Loor, David N. Kuhn, J. Steven Brown and Raymond J. Schnell. Their institutional connections extended across agricultural research organizations in the Americas and Europe. [1]
A more detailed picture
The researchers proposed ten major genetic groups: Marañon, Curaray, Criollo, Iquitos, Nanay, Contamana, Amelonado, Purús, Nacional and Guiana. [1]
Illustrated guide: The ten major genetic groups proposed by Motamayor and colleagues in 2008. Sources and context below.
The importance was practical. A more accurate description of relationships could help people manage collections, choose material for breeding and think about conservation. Diversity that disappears inside an overly broad category becomes harder to use and easier to overlook.
Genetics is one part of a cacao’s story
These groups describe genetic patterns. They do not divide chocolate into ten guaranteed flavors. A tree's performance and the taste of its harvest also involve environment, agricultural management and postharvest processing.
Nor was the 2008 framework the end of the investigation. A 2026 study of traditional cacao from Indigenous Amazonian sites in Peru reported additional genetic lineages, illustrating how new sampling and analysis can extend an influential classification. [2]
Why the map mattered
Motamayor's contribution helped shift the question from which traditional label a tree carried to what the evidence showed about its relationships. That change gave later work a framework to test, refine and expand.
It is an unusual kind of turning point: no new sweet appeared on a shop counter. Instead, the living material behind chocolate became easier to distinguish. The consequences could unfold in germplasm collections, breeding programs and decisions about what cacao diversity to keep for the future.
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