Producing decaffeinated coffee plants

Shinjiro Ogita, Hirotaka Uefuji, Yube Yamaguchi, Nozomu Koizumi and Hiroshi Sano ()
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Shinjiro Ogita: Research and Education Centre for Genetic Information, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Hirotaka Uefuji: Research and Education Centre for Genetic Information, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Yube Yamaguchi: Research and Education Centre for Genetic Information, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Nozomu Koizumi: Research and Education Centre for Genetic Information, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Hiroshi Sano: Research and Education Centre for Genetic Information, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Nature, 2003, vol. 423, issue 6942, 823-823

Abstract: Abstract The demand for decaffeinated coffee is increasing because the stimulatory effects of caffeine can adversely affect sensitive individuals by triggering palpitations, increased blood pressure and insomnia1. Three N-methyltransferase enzymes are involved in caffeine biosynthesis in coffee plants — CaXMT1, CaMXMT1 (theobromine synthase) and CaDXMT1 (caffeine synthase), which successively add methyl groups to xanthosine in converting it into caffeine2,3,4. Here we describe the construction of transgenic coffee plants in which expression of the gene encoding theobromine synthase (CaMXMT1) is repressed by RNA interference (RNAi). The caffeine content of these plants is reduced by up to 70%, indicating that it should be feasible to produce coffee beans that are intrinsically deficient in caffeine.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/423823a

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