Abundance of genes found in wine grape

A team of French and Italian researchers has mapped the genome of the pinot noir grape, used to make Champagne and many red wines.

It has about 30,000 genes in its DNA, the researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature. That’s more than the human genome, which contains some 20,000 to 25,000 genes. The team said its research had confirmed that the grape has an unusually high number of genes dedicated to producing flavor.