Production of a new low-caffeine hybrid coffee and the biochemical mechanism of low caffeine accumulation

The GCAs are new tetraploid interspecific hybrids developed in Madagascar from Coffea eugenioides, C. canephora and C. arabica. Selected GCA having genotype UF1023 contained 0.37% DW caffeine and no detectable theobromine in green beans. Low caffeine accumulation in GCA plants is due mainly to the low biosynthetic activity of purine alkaloids, possibly the extremely weak N-methyltransferase reactions in caffeine biosynthesis. No significant catabolic activity of caffeine was found in GCA-UF1023, in common with almost all coffee plants including C. arabica.     

An abnormal birth in bovine suspected of being caused by Peaton virus first occurred in Shikoku region,Japan

Peaton virus (PEAV) is a type of arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) belonging to the genus Orthobunyavirus, much like Akabane virus and Aino virus. These arboviruses cause stillbirth and congenital malformations of fetuses in ruminants. In Japan, abnormal birth in bovine caused by PEAV were reported in Okinawa, Kyushu, and Chugoku regions, but it has never been reported in Shikoku region. The abnormal birth occurred in 2020 in Ehime Prefecture (Shikoku region) and suspected of being caused by PEAV from results of clinical signs, pathological findings, and virus neutralization test using PEAV. However, PEAV was not detected and isolated. This report describes the case of abnormal birth in bovine suspected of being caused by PEAV first occurred in Shikoku region, Japan.