Gut microbiota mediate caffeine detoxification in the primary insect pest of coffee

Javier A. Ceja-Navarro (), Fernando E. Vega (), Ulas Karaoz, Zhao Hao, Stefan Jenkins, Hsiao Chien Lim, Petr Kosina, Francisco Infante, Trent R. Northen and Eoin L. Brodie ()
Additional contact information
Javier A. Ceja-Navarro: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Fernando E. Vega: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service
Ulas Karaoz: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Zhao Hao: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Stefan Jenkins: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Hsiao Chien Lim: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Petr Kosina: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
Francisco Infante: El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR)
Trent R. Northen: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Eoin L. Brodie: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) is the most devastating insect pest of coffee worldwide with its infestations decreasing crop yield by up to 80%. Caffeine is an alkaloid that can be toxic to insects and is hypothesized to act as a defence mechanism to inhibit herbivory. Here we show that caffeine is degraded in the gut of H. hampei, and that experimental inactivation of the gut microbiota eliminates this activity. We demonstrate that gut microbiota in H. hampei specimens from seven major coffee-producing countries and laboratory-reared colonies share a core of microorganisms. Globally ubiquitous members of the gut microbiota, including prominent Pseudomonas species, subsist on caffeine as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Pseudomonas caffeine demethylase genes are expressed in vivo in the gut of H. hampei, and re-inoculation of antibiotic-treated insects with an isolated Pseudomonas strain reinstates caffeine-degradation ability confirming their key role.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8618 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8618

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8618

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().