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Xanthine Alkaloids: Occurrence, Biosynthesis, and Function in Plants

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Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products 105

Part of the book series: Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products ((POGRCHEM,volume 105))

Abstract

Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid found in non-alcoholic beverages such as tea, coffee, and cocoa. It was discovered in tea and coffee in the 1820s, but it was not until 2000 that details of molecular events associated with caffeine biosynthesis began to be unraveled. Reviewed are the occurrence of xanthine alkaloids in the plant kingdom and the elucidation of the caffeine biosynthesis pathway, providing details of the N-methyltransferases, belonging to the motif B′ methyltransferase family, which catalyze three steps in the four-step pathway leading from xanthosine to caffeine. Pathways for the metabolism and degradation of xanthine alkaloids are discussed, although as yet the genes and enzymes involved have not been isolated. This chapter also considers the in planta role of caffeine in chemical defense that has been demonstrated using transgenic caffeine-forming tobacco and chrysanthemum plants, which are resistant to attack by pathogens and herbivores. Finally, future research is considered that might lead to the production of naturally decaffeinated beverages and agricultural crops that contain elevated levels of “natural” pesticides.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor Andrew A. McCarthy, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble, France for providing a personal communication on the current status of 7-methylxanthosine synthase. The authors also thank Professor Tatsuhito Fujimura, University of Tsukuba, Japan for drawing Fig. 2.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, 112-8610, Japan

    Hiroshi Ashihara

  2. Faculty of Bioresource of Science, Akita Prefectural University, Akita, 010-0195, Japan

    Kouichi Mizuno

  3. Department of Biosciences, Teikyo University, Utsunomiya, 320-8551, Japan

    Takao Yokota

  4. Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA, 951616, USA

    Alan Crozier

Authors
  1. Hiroshi Ashihara
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  2. Kouichi Mizuno
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  3. Takao Yokota
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  4. Alan Crozier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroshi Ashihara .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    A. Douglas Kinghorn

  2. Institute of Organic Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria

    Heinz Falk

  3. Research Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry, UCL School of Pharmacy, London, United Kingdom

    Simon Gibbons

  4. Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Jun'ichi Kobayashi

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Ashihara, H., Mizuno, K., Yokota, T., Crozier, A. (2017). Xanthine Alkaloids: Occurrence, Biosynthesis, and Function in Plants. In: Kinghorn, A., Falk, H., Gibbons, S., Kobayashi, J. (eds) Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products 105. Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products, vol 105. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49712-9_1

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