Coffee, the Gentech Fingerprint

Prof. Klaus Ammann, University of Bern, Switzerland

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backcrossesbackcrosses

Resistant CropsResistant Crops

Hybrid breedingHybrid breeding

Gene Technology

Werner Arber, Nobel Laureate 1978:

Interestingly, naturally occurring molecular evolution,i.e. the spontaneous generation of genetic variants hasbeen seen to follow exactly the same three strategies as those used in genetic engineering14. These three strategies are: (a) small local changes in the nucleotide sequences,(b) internal reshuffling of genomic DNA segments, and(c) acquisition of usually rather small segments of DNA

from another type of organism by horizontal gene transfer.Arber, W. (2002) Roots, strategies and prospects of functional genomics. Current Science, 83, 7, pp 826-828 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Mutations/Arber-Comparison-2002.pdf

Arber, W. (2000) Genetic variation: molecular mechanisms and impact on microbial evolution. Fems Microbiology Reviews, 24, 1, pp 1-7 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Mutations/Arber-Gen-Variation-FEMS-2000.pdf

http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1978/arber-autobio.html

However, there is a principal difference between the procedures of genetic engineering and those serving in nature for biological evolution. While the genetic engineer pre-reflects his alteration and verifies its results, nature places its genetic variations more randomly and largely independent of an identified goal.

Arber, W. (2002) Roots, strategies and prospects of functional genomics. Current Science, 83, 7, pp 826-828 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Mutations/Arber-Comparison-2002.pdf

Arber, W. (2002) Roots, strategies and prospects of functional genomics. Current Science, 83, 7, pp 826-828 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Mutations/Arber-Comparison-2002.pdf

Institute of Radiation Breeding Ibaraki-ken, JAPAN http://www.irb.affrc.go.jp/

100m Radius

89 TBqCo-60

Radiation source in

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Gamma Radiation Mutation

Better Spaghetti,Better Spaghetti,

Better WhiskeyBetter Whiskey

1800 new traits1800 new traits

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Etienne, H., Anthony, F., Dussert, S., Fernandez, D., Lashermes, P., & Bertrand, B. (2002) Biotechnological applications for the improvement of coffee (Coffea arabica L.). In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant, 38, 2, pp 129-138 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Etienne-Biotech-Coffee-2002.pdf

This is the first report of cloning of the promoter for a gene involved in caffeine biosynthetic pathway and it opens up the possibility of studying the molecular mechanisms that regulate the production of caffeine.

Satyanarayana, K.V., Kumar, V., Chandrashekar, A., & Ravishankar, G.A. (2005) Isolation of promoter for N-methyltransferase gene associated with caffeine biosynthesis in Coffea canephora. Journal of Biotechnology, 119, 1, pp 20-25 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Satyanarayana-Isolation-Promoter-2005.pdf

Fig. 5. Biosynthesis of caffeine from xanthosine and the conversion of xanthosine to xanthine and its breakdown to CO2 and NH3 via the purine catabolism pathway. Abbreviations: CS, caffeine synthase; MXS, methylxanthosine synthase; MXN, methylxanthosine nucleotidase; NSD, inosine–guanosine nucleosidase; SAH, S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine; SAM, S-adenosyl-L-methione; XDH, xanthine dehydrogenase.

Ashihara, H. & Crozier, A. (2001) Caffeine: a well known but little mentioned compound in plant science. Trends in Plant Science, 6, 9, pp 407-413 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Ashihara-Caffeine-2001.pdf

The cloning of caffeine biosynthesis genes opens up the possibility ofusing genetic engineering to produce naturally decaffeinated tea and coffee.

PCR amplification of DsRFP gene and visual detection of the red fluorescent protein demonstrated 33% transformed embryos. The protocol presented here produces reliable transgenic coffee embryos in two months.Canche-Moo, R.L.R., Ku-Gonzalez, A., Burgeff, C., Loyola-Vargas, V.M., Rodriguez-Zapata, L.C., & Castano, E. (2006) Genetic transformation of Coffea canephora by vacuum infiltration. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture, 84, 3, pp 373-377 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Canche-Mo-Transform-Vacuum-Coffee-2006.pdf

Hatanaka, T., Choi, Y.E., Kusano, T., & Sano, H. (1999) Transgenic plants of coffee Coffea canephora from embryogenic callus via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Plant Cell Reports, 19, 2, pp 106-110 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Hatanaka-Transgenic-bact-tum-1999.pdf

Coffee plants transformed with the GUS gene 1

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Ribas, A.F., Kobayashi, A.K., Pereira, L.F.P., & Vieira, L.G.E. (2006) Production of herbicide-resistant coffee plants (Coffea canephora P.) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, 49, 1, pp 11-19 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Ribas-herbic-resist-Coffee-2006.pdf

Cattaneo, M.G., Yafuso, C., Schmidt, C., Huang, C.-y., Rahman, M., Olson, C., Ellers-Kirk, C., Orr, B.J., Marsh, S.E., Antilla, L., Dutilleul, P., & Carriere, Y. (2006) Farm-scale evaluation of the impacts of transgenic cotton on biodiversity, pesticide use, and yield10.1073/pnas.0508312103. PNAS, 103, 20, pp 7571-7576 http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/103/20/7571 AND http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Cotton/Cattaneo-Farmscale-Bt-cotton-2006.pdf

Average number of broad-spectrum insecticide applications in nonTr,Bt, and BtHr cotton (with95%confidence intervals). The number of insecticideapplications was significantly higher in nonTr than in transgenic cotton in2002 (one-tailed contrast, t 4.13, df 72, P 0.0001) (a) and in 2003(one-tailed contrast, t1.99, df72, P0.025) (b). The number of insecticideapplications was higher in 2003 than in 2002 (P0.058), although differencesin insecticide applications among cotton types did not vary between years(P 0.47).

Figure 3. Anti-herbivore effects of transgenic plants.

(A) Tobacco cutworm (S. litura) larvae at the third instar wereallowed to feed on six leaf dics, three from caffeine producing,and three from control plants. Bar indicates 5 mm.

(B) Leaf disc choice test. After feeding for 3 h in the dark, eachdisc was collected and photographed. Two transgenic lineswere tested; lines #1 (Test 1) and #2 (Test 2) contained caffeineat 5 lg and 0.4 lg per g fresh weight, respectively. Discsamples are from caffeine containing (1 and 3) and controlleaves (2 and 4).

(C) Quantification of feeding behavior.Twenty replicate tests were performed for one transgenicplant as described above, and fed leaf areas (vertical axis)were calculated with the aid of an image analyzer. The horizontalaxis indicates the duplicated test (Test 1 and Test 2)with discs from caffeine containing (1 and 3) and controlleaves (2 and 4), respectively. Some tests which showed nofeeding were excluded from the evaluation.

Uefuji, H., Tatsumi, Y., Morimoto, M., Kaothien-Nakayama, P., Ogita, S., & Sano, H. (2005) Caffeine production in tobacco plants by simultaneous expression of three coffee N-methyltrasferases and its potential as a pest repellant. Plant Molecular Biology, 59, 2, pp 221-227 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Uefuj-Coffein-Tobacco-2005.pdf

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Comparison of the gene ontology-based gene annotation categories for the coffee EST-derived unigene set, tomato ESTderivedunigene set and the Arabidopsis proteome. Figure contains only categories in which more than 1% of the coffee unigenes wereassigned. Categories for which coffee differs most significantly from Arabidopsis are shown in underline bold.

Lin, C.W., Mueller, L.A., Mc Carthy, J., Crouzillat, D., Petiard, V., & Tanksley, S.D. (2005) Coffee and tomato share common gene repertoires as revealed by deep sequencing of seed and cherry transcripts. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 112, 1, pp 114-130 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Coffee/Lin-Coffee-Tomato-2005.pdf

Coffea sp. nov. One of the newly discovered species of coffee, found for the first time in 1996 at Tsingy de Bemaraha, western Madagascar.

The bizarre winged fruits are unlike any other coffee species.

Aaron Davis, Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK. E-mail: A.Davis@kew.org

Coffee Biotech Research Group in Campinas, Brazil

Cohen, J.I. (2005) Poorer nations turn to publicly developed GM crops (vol 23, pg 27, 2005). Nature Biotechnology, 23, 3, pp 366-366 http://www.botanischergarten.ch/PublicSector-Danforth-20050304/Cohen-Naturebiotech-2005.pdf

The national percentage of cropland planted with conservation tillage technology surpassed the percentage of plowed ground in 1997. Indiana was one of the top five contributors to the increase in acreage farmed with the erosion-busting technology. Here a farmer plants into corn stalk residue. (Purdue Agricultural Communications Service Photo by Mike Kerper)Color photo, electronic transmission, and Web and ftp download available. Photo ID: Evans.Notill

Zunahme der pfluglosen Landwirtschaft in den USA *

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European Safety Attitude: let not the Europeans decide aboutBiosafety in Africa, do your own safety assessment

Not this kind of future, PLEASE!