GM Plants Offer Hope of Real Decaf Coffee

Japanese scientists are working on the solution to the dilemma of insomniac coffee-lovers: they are developing genetically modified plants to produce beans that have all the qualities of ordinary coffee but are decaffeinated.

Geneticists from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology report in Nature today 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 engineered to yield 70% 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 flavour 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 decaf is just one way in which scientists are seeking to apply genetic engineering to meet consumer demand. Scientists in Australia announced yesterday that they had developed GM grass seeds altered to remove common allergens that cause hay fever.

Many of the more imaginative applications are still a way off, however. A GM double-decaf 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% of the world market.

"Some people are much more sensitive to caffeine than others," said Alan Crozier of Glasgow University, who two years ago isolated a caffeine synthesis gene. "One cup and they shake, two cups and they get the tremors, or upset stomachs. Some of us fortunately can drink within reason large amounts, but for most of us, it's a stimulant. Therefore if we drink it late at night we suffer from insomnia."

But, he warned, the coffee giants were not likely to snap up the finished research. Big companies had been frightened by the "hysteria" in Europe over GM foods, and they had already invested huge sums in industrial decaffeination plants.

"I suspect some small producers in the States are going to start producing coffee this way in the next four or five years," Prof Crozier said. "People may drink it and like it, the market may increase and suddenly the big boys will realise they could make some money by taking this route after all."