Plant biotechnology: Make it a decaf

Borrell, Brendan

doi:10.1038/483264a

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Coffea spp is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil. Raw coffee generates between $15 and $20 billion per year for exporting countries [39]. Because of these economic aspects, many research initiatives have been targeted genomic and transcriptomic data of Coffea spp., which could contribute to an understanding of the biology of coffee [40], [41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Insights into Somatic Embryogenesis: LEAFY COTYLEDON1, BABY BOOM1 and WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX4 Are Epigenetically Regulated in Coffea canephora

et al. 2013

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Plant cells have the capacity to generate a new plant without egg fertilization by a process known as somatic embryogenesis (SE), in which differentiated somatic cells can form somatic embryos able to generate a functional plant. Although there have been advances in understanding the genetic basis of SE, the epigenetic mechanism that regulates this process is still unknown. Here, we show that the embryogenic development of Coffea canephora proceeds through a crosstalk between DNA methylation and histone modifications during the earliest embryogenic stages of SE. We found that low levels of DNA methylation, histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) and H3K27me3 change according to embryo development. Moreover, the expression of LEAFY COTYLEDON1 (LEC1) and BABY BOOM1 (BBM1) are only observed after SE induction, whereas WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX4 (WOX4) decreases its expression during embryo maturation. Using a pharmacological approach, it was found that 5-Azacytidine strongly inhibits the embryogenic response by decreasing both DNA methylation and gene expression of LEC1 and BBM1. Therefore, in order to know whether these genes were epigenetically regulated, we used Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays. It was found that WOX4 is regulated by the repressive mark H3K9me2, while LEC1 and BBM1 are epigenetically regulated by H3K27me3. We conclude that epigenetic regulation plays an important role during somatic embryogenic development, and a molecular mechanism for SE is proposed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Insights into Somatic Embryogenesis: LEAFY COTYLEDON1, BABY BOOM1 and WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX4 Are Epigenetically Regulated in Coffea canephora

et al. 2013

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“…res. ; Borrell 2012). Among the ∼33 000 seedlings analysed, seven were found not to contain caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) due to a blockade in the methylation of theobromine (3,7-dimethylxanthine) mediated by caffeine synthase (Mazzafera et al 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A functional role for the colleters of coffee flowers

2013

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Colleters have functional definitions such as protection against dehydration, and pathogens and insects attack. So far this definition is intuitive and no direct proof has been provided. We compared flowers of coffee mutants (Decafitto), which exhibit minimal production and secretion of exudate by colleters, with normal plants, to provide a proof of concept that the exudate covering the flowers plays a role against dehydration and acts as an adhesive to keep the petals united until flower opening.

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“…2D). However, it should be mentioned that these 'non-caffeine' coffee trees did not produce beans, because floral organ development was desynchronized in the transgenic lines (Borrell 2012). Other caffeine biosynthetic genes or caffeine transporters will be the future target of genome editing, as scientists try to make a caffeine-free coffee.…”

Section: Coffee Without Caffeinementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finding caffeine-free coffee is the long-term goal of coffee breeders (Borrell 2012), because the process of removing caffeine from normal coffee beans usually costs a lot, sometimes produces toxic byproducts, and may reduce or remove other flavors. In 2003, Ogita et al designed RNAi constructs to silence the caffeine biosynthetic gene, XANTHOSINE METHYLTRANSFERASE in Coffea canephora, known as Rubusta coffee (Fig.…”

Section: Coffee Without Caffeinementioning

confidence: 99%

Targeted Genome Editing for Crop Improvement

Kim

2015

Plant Breed. Biotech.

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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Crop improvement is essential to attaining world food security and enhancing nutrition for human beings. Both conventional breeding and modern molecular breeding have contributed to increased crop production and quality. However, the time and resources for breeding practices have been limited. It takes a long time to bring a novel improved crop to the market, and the genetic sources from wild species cannot be always available for crops of our interests. Genome editing technology implemented molecular breeding can overcome those limitations of time and resource by facilitating the specific editing of plant genomes. However, there is a long-lasting argument about the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In this review, we briefly summarize the principle of genome editing tools, focusing on the CRISPR/Cas9 system and the application of these tools to plants in the service of crop engineering.

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Plant biotechnology: Make it a decaf

Cited by 13 publications

References 4 publications

New Insights into Somatic Embryogenesis: LEAFY COTYLEDON1, BABY BOOM1 and WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX4 Are Epigenetically Regulated in Coffea canephora

New Insights into Somatic Embryogenesis: LEAFY COTYLEDON1, BABY BOOM1 and WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX4 Are Epigenetically Regulated in Coffea canephora

A functional role for the colleters of coffee flowers

Targeted Genome Editing for Crop Improvement

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