Theobromine Theobromine Theobromine, formerly known as xantheose, is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, with the chemical formula CHNO. It is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, including the leaves of the tea plant, and the kola nut. It is classified as a xanthine alkaloid, others of which include theophylline and caffeine. The compounds differ in that caffeine has an extra methyl group (see under Pharmacology section). Despite its name, the compound contains no bromine—"theobromine" is derived from "Theobroma", the name of the genus of the cacao tree (which itself is made up of
Theobroma cacao seed germination of "T. cacao," inhibiting growth of various types of microorganisms (such as different oomycetes, fungi, and bacteria), and preventing rotting by "Phytophthora megakarya". Various plant pests and diseases can cause serious problems for cacao production. The genome of "T. cacao" is diploid, its size is 430 Mbp, and it comprises 10 chromosome pairs (2n=2x=20). In September 2010, a team of scientists announced a draft sequence of the cacao genome (Matina1-6 genotype). In a second, unrelated project, the International Cocoa Genome Sequencing Consortium-ICGS, co-ordinated by CIRAD, first published in December 2010 (online, paper publication in January 2011), the sequence