Occurrence of theobromine synthase genes in purine alkaloid-free species of Camellia plants

Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) and theobromine (3,7-dimethylxanthine) are purine alkaloids that are present in high concentrations in plants of some species of Camellia. However, most members of the genus Camellia contain no purine alkaloids. Tracer experiments using [8-¹⁴C]adenine and [8-¹⁴C]th...

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Veröffentlicht in:Planta 2009-02, Vol.229 (3), p.559-568
Hauptverfasser: Ishida, Mariko, Kitao, Naoko, Mizuno, Kouichi, Tanikawa, Natsu, Kato, Misako
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) and theobromine (3,7-dimethylxanthine) are purine alkaloids that are present in high concentrations in plants of some species of Camellia. However, most members of the genus Camellia contain no purine alkaloids. Tracer experiments using [8-¹⁴C]adenine and [8-¹⁴C]theobromine showed that the purine alkaloid pathway is not fully functional in leaves of purine alkaloid-free species. In five species of purine alkaloid-free Camellia plants, sufficient evidence was obtained to show the occurrence of genes that are homologous to caffeine synthase. Recombinant enzymes derived from purine alkaloid-free species showed only theobromine synthase activity. Unlike the caffeine synthase gene, these genes were expressed more strongly in mature tissue than in young tissue.
ISSN:0032-0935
1432-2048
DOI:10.1007/s00425-008-0847-5