Japanese scientists are working on the solution to the dilemma of insomniac coffee-lovers -- they are developing genetically modified plants that produce beans that have all the qualities of ordinary coffee but are decaffeinated.
Geneticists from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology reported in Nature yesterday that they have found a way of stifling the gene that naturally makes theobromine synthase, one of three enzymes that go into making caffeine. The result: laboratory plants genetically engineered to yield 70 percent less caffeine in the coffee bean.
"It should be feasible to produce coffee beans that are intrinsically deficient in caffeine," they say. "At present, coffee is decaffeinated industrially but the process is expensive and the flavor of the product is poor -- problems that could potentially be overcome by the genetic engineering of coffee plants."
Coffee has been worrying researchers for decades. It has been linked to risk factors for heart disease, stillbirths, rheumatoid arthritis, and sleeplessness. But researchers have also claimed that coffee drinking could lower the risk for Parkinson's disease, help protect against bladder cancer, and even prevent cavities.
The attempt to develop GM decaffeinated coffee is just one way in which scientists are seeking to apply genetic engineering to meet consumer demand.
Many of the more imaginative applications are still a way off. A GM double-decaff skinny latte will not be available for several years. The researchers have been able to measure the reduced caffeine levels only in the leaves of year-old seedlings. They now plan to genetically modify the Coffea arabica plants which produce high quality coffee for 70 percent of the world market.
But, researchers warn, the coffee giants are not likely to snap up the finished research. Big companies had been frightened by the "hysteria" in Europe over genetically modified foods, and they had already invested huge sums in industrial decaffeination plants.
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