Caffeine

“How Caffeine Evolved to Help Plants Survive and Help People Wake Up"

By: Carl Zimmer

Source: New York Times

http://nyti.ms/WgMOIY

People drink 26,000 cups of coffee every second all around the world. However, most people tend to drink coffee in order to receive caffeine. Caffeine can be obtained from many different sources, such as tea or cocoa plants. In a recent study, a group of scientists began to analyze the genome of coffea canephora. By studying coffea canephora, scientists were able to figure out how coffee produces caffeine. This study showed that coffee produces caffeine as a way to control the behavior of living organisms.

Caffeine starts out as xanthosine. The coffee plants produces two different enzymes. The first enzyme disconnects a portion of the xanthosine, while the second enzyme adds atoms to the coffee plant. After the second enzyme adds the atoms to the plant, two more groups of atoms would attached to the plant through the use of a third enzyme. Once the two additional groups of atoms are attached, xanthosine turns into caffeine. The research study found that the gene N-methyltransferase mutated in these plants a long time ago. As time progressed, this mutated gene began to copy itself and result in the production of caffeine. However, the research also proved that caffeine from coffee and caffeine from cocoa plants were not the same. Although they may have come from the same ancestor, the different forms of caffeine were produced through a change in the evolutionary process. The caffeine is a form of self-defense for the plants. Caffeine is considered to be toxic to germs and insects.

This article provides the general background of coffee. Since most people drink coffee, it is important that they should know where caffeine came from. Due to research, we now know that caffeine did not exist all the time. Caffeine has been a result of evolution in order to help protect the plant. Since caffeine might be toxic to insects and germs, it might help to further research the effects it might have on humans, besides being a stimulant.