Background Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities exported worldwide. Greater
understanding of the molecular basis of coffee quality is required to meet the increasing …

Plants have a penchant for perfuming the atmosphere around them. Since antiquity it has
been known that both floral and vegetative parts of many species emit substances with …

Alkaloids represent a highly diverse group of compounds that are related only by the
occurrence of a nitrogen atom in a heterocyclic ring. Plants are estimated to produce …

Alkaloids, represent a group of interesting and complex chemical compounds, produced by
the secondary metabolism of living organisms in different biotopes. They are relatively …

Details of the recently elucidated biosynthetic pathways of caffeine and related purine
alkaloids are reviewed. The main caffeine biosynthetic pathway is a sequence consisting of …

S-Adenosyl-l-methionine (AdoMet or SAM) is a substrate in numerous enzyme-catalyzed
reactions. It not only provides methyl groups in many biological methylations, but also acts …

The demand for decaffeinated coffee is increasing because the stimulatory effects of caffeine
can adversely affect sensitive individuals by triggering palpitations, increased blood …

Plants produce a high diversity of natural products or secondary metabolites which are
important for the communication of plants with other organisms. A prominent function is the …

Convergent evolution is a process that has occurred throughout the tree of life, but the
historical genetic and biochemical context promoting the repeated independent origins of a …

In commercial coffee species (Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora), fruit development is a
lengthy process, characterized by tissue changes and evolutions. For example, soon after …