how did coffee evolve?

How Did Coffee Evolve?

Bywww.BuyOrganicCoffee.org

http://www.buyorganiccoffee.org/

http://www.buyorganiccoffee.org/

Humans started drinking coffee in the Middle East, India, Persia, Turkey and Northern Africa by the 16th century.

http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1855/how-did-coffee-evolve/


However it was probably discovered and first prepared in the 10th century, with its use centered in monasteries in countries like Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula.



As the consumption of coffee spread so did its cultivation. A plant that grew wild in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula is now grown worldwide.



But how did coffee evolve to contain caffeine and those antioxidants that are so important to health?



The Coffee Genome



Scientists have analyzed the DNA of coffee. It turns out that the caffeine in coffee evolved separately from the caffeine if tea or chocolate.



But once the plant contained caffeine pests quit bothering it but pollinators like beans came back again and again.



The University of Buffalo studied the coffee genome.


http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2014/09/005.html


The newly sequenced genome of the coffee plant reveals secrets about the evolution of man’s best chemical friend: caffeine.



The scientists who completed the project say the sequences and positions of genes in the coffee plant show that they evolved independently from genes with similar functions in tea and chocolate, which also make caffeine.



In other words, coffee did not inherit caffeine-linked genes from a common ancestor, but instead developed the genes on its own.



Once the plant started making caffeine natural selection took over because when pests are turned away by the caffeine more of the plants survive and reproduce.



When pollinators like the plant they help with reproduction. The variety of coffee studied was robusta or Coffea Canephora.


http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1181/robusta-coffee-beans/


Compared to several other plant species, including the grape and tomato, coffee harbors larger families of genes that relate to the production of alkaloid and flavonoid compounds, which contribute to qualities such as coffee aroma and the bitterness of beans.



Coffee also has an expanded collection of N-methyltransferases, enzymes that are involved in making caffeine.



Why caffeine is so important in nature is another question. Scientists theorize that the chemical may help plants repel insects or stunt competitors’ growth.



One recent paper showed that pollinators - like humans - may develop caffeine habits. Insects that visited caffeine-producing plants often returned to get another taste.



New genes arrive by chance pairings or replication mistakes. The failures lead to plant death or at least a less competitive plant in its environment.



In the case of coffee the antioxidants and caffeine that make coffee pleasurable and healthy for humans also help protect the plant and help it replicate.



This is probably because it was so well adapted to its environment and so successful that the basic species always out-competed any diverging rivals.



In this case we can think of alligators, crocodiles or even cockroaches which have survived as the same model for millions of years.



The all-time winner is probably the horseshoe crab which has used the same shape and form for 445 million years.



We can only hope that humans and coffee enjoy the same longevity!



how did coffee evolve?

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