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| Author(s): |
Flávia Camila Schimpl
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2013-07-31 |
| Examining board members: |
Paulo Mazzafera;
José Francisco de Carvalho Gonçalves;
Alexandra Christine Helena Frankland Sawaya
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| Advisor: | Paulo Mazzafera |
| Abstract | |
Some plants are characterized by presenting high contents of caffeine. Tea, coffee and guarana, which accumulate the alkaloid caffeine, are some of these plants. Guarana seeds have the highest caffeine content (2.5 and 6%) among plants accumulating methylxanthine alkaloids. The increase in popularity of products made from guarana and the high demand for natural caffeine (obtained by decaffeination plant) justify the commercial interest for this species. The biosynthesis of caffeine in plants has been extensively studied in coffee and tea and both species present high similarity regarding the caffeine biosynthesis pathway. The third step of the pathway occurs in the presence of the enzyme theobromine synthase (TS), which converts 7-methylxanthine to theobromine but depending on the species, this step is also mediated by caffeine synthase (CS), an bifunctional enzyme that in addition to convert 7-methylxanthine to theobromine, also convert the later to caffeine. The aim of this study was to characterize the levels of methylxanthine alkaloids, activity and expression of caffeine synthase in the guarana fruit, and for this biochemical and molecular analyses were carried out in tissues of five cultivars of guarana (BRS-Amazonas, BRS-CG372, CG611-BRS, Maués-BRS, BRS-Luzéia). Theobromine was preferentially accumulated in the leaves (young, intermediate and mature stages), stems (apical and basal sections), inflorescence, and pericarp of fruits (green, intermediate and mature stages). However caffeine accumulated in the seeds as the main alkaloid and reached levels between 3.3 and 5.8%. In all tissues analyzed, whether theobromine or caffeine, the alkaloid concentration was higher in new tissues, reducing with the development/maturation. While theophylline was found in low amounts in all materials. The highest concentration of caffeine in immature fruits was confirmed by the highest activity of CS and highest expression of PcCS. The search for the CS gene of guarana in the EST guarana database Realgene generated a sequence of nucleotides (PcCS) with 1080 bp, which presented phylogenetic similarity with proteins of caffeine synthase from cocoa (BCS1) and tea (TCS1 and TCS2). The production of the PcCS recombinant protein allowed the functional characterization of the enzyme as a bifunctional CS, able to catalyze the two last methylation steps in the biosynthesis of caffeine. PcCS showed affinity for 7-methylxanthine and theobromine (highest), differing from the CS described for other species accumulating caffeine, which have highest affinity paraxanthine. This is probably due to the amino acid residues present in the active site of the predicted protein when compared to coffee (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 11/03266-6 - Analysis of the expression of the gene of caffeine synthase in guaraná fruits (Paullina cupana var. sorbilis) |
| Grantee: | Flávia Camila Schimpl |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |