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Production of a new low-caffeine hybrid coffee and the biochemical mechanism of low caffeine accumulation

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Abstract

The GCAs are new tetraploid interspecific hybrids developed in Madagascar from Coffea eugenioides, C. canephora and C. arabica. Selected GCA having genotype UF1023 contained 0.37% DW caffeine and no detectable theobromine in green beans. Low caffeine accumulation in GCA plants is due mainly to the low biosynthetic activity of purine alkaloids, possibly the extremely weak N-methyltransferase reactions in caffeine biosynthesis. No significant catabolic activity of caffeine was found in GCA-UF1023, in common with almost all coffee plants including C. arabica.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Aiea, HI, 96701-3911, USA

    Chifumi Nagai

  2. FOFIFA, Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural, B.P. 1690, Antananarivo, 101, Madagascar

    Jean-Jacques Rakotomalala

  3. Faculty of Home Economics, Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University, Tokyo, 194-0292, Japan

    Riko Katahira

  4. Key Laboratory of Tea Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Education, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, 230036, China

    Yeyun Li

  5. Agri-Research Center, UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. Ltd., Takatsuki, Osaka, 569-0036, Japan

    Katsuya Yamagata

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8610, Japan

    Hiroshi Ashihara

Authors
  1. Chifumi Nagai
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  2. Jean-Jacques Rakotomalala
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  3. Riko Katahira
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  4. Yeyun Li
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  5. Katsuya Yamagata
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  6. Hiroshi Ashihara
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Ashihara.

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Nagai, C., Rakotomalala, JJ., Katahira, R. et al. Production of a new low-caffeine hybrid coffee and the biochemical mechanism of low caffeine accumulation. Euphytica 164, 133–142 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-008-9674-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-008-9674-9

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