Hey MinuteEarthlings! If you join us on Patreon this month at https://patreon.com/minuteearth, we will draw you a custom MinuteEarth stick figure (that we could feature in an upcoming video) AND send you a custom coffee mug with your beautiful stick figure on it!
Plants don't make caffeine just for us, so what DO they make it for?
LEARN MORE
**************
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Alkaloid: any of a class of nitrogenous organic compounds of plant origin which have pronounced physiological actions on humans.
- Allelopathy: the chemical inhibition of one plant (or other organism) by another, due to the release into the environment of substances acting as germination or growth inhibitors.
- Caffeine: a crystalline compound that is found especially in tea and coffee plants and is a stimulant of the central nervous system.
- Pesticide: a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to plants or to animals.
SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH
**************************
If you like what we do, you can help us!:
- Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth
- Our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth
- Our book: https://minuteearth.com/books
- Share this video with your friends and family
- Leave us a comment (we read them!)
CREDITS
*********
Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Kate Yoshida | Narrator
David Goldenberg | Narrator
Henry Reich | Narrator
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music
MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC
https://neptunestudios.info
OUR STAFF
************
Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida
OUR LINKS
************
Youtube | https://youtube.com/MinuteEarth
TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth
Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth
Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth
Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth
Website | https://minuteearth.com
Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176
REFERENCES
**************
Tanti, A., et al. (2016). Allelopathic potential of caffeine as growth and germination inhibitor to popular tea weed, Borreria hispida L.. Current Life Sciences. 2. 114-117. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.163671
Brazier, Yvette (2016). “Adolescents drink too much caffeine”, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307526
Brychkova, G., et al. (2018). “Formation of xanthine and the use of purine metabolites as a nitrogen source in Arabidopsis plants”, https://doi.org/10.4161/psb.6304
Ceja-Navarro, J., et al. (2015). “Gut microbiota mediate caffeine detoxification in the primary insect pest of coffee”, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8618
Earth and Environmental Sciences (2015). “Coffee berry borer’s gut microbes detoxify caffeine”, https://eesa.lbl.gov/coffee-berry-borers-gut-microbes-detoxify-caffeine/
Diel, P. (2020). “Caffeine and Doping—What Have We Learned since 2004”, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12082167
Jayson, C. (2015). “Caffeine vs. Chocolate: A Mighty Methyl Group”, www.discovermagazine.com/health/caffeine-vs-chocolate-a-mighty-methyl-group
Lee, Y., et al. (2009) “Multiple gustatory receptors required for the caffeine response in Drosophila”, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811744106
Lu, H., et al. (2016). “Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau”, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep18955
Mustard, J. (2013). “The buzz on caffeine in invertebrates: effects on behavior and molecular mechanisms”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-013-1497-8
Nall, A., et al. (2016).“Caffeine promotes wakefulness via dopamine signaling in Drosophila”, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20938
Nathanson, J. (1984). “Caffeine and Related Methylxanthines: Possible Naturally Occurring Pesticides.”, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6207592
Poole, R., & Tordoff, M. (2017). “The Taste of Caffeine”, https://doi.org/10.1089/jcr.2016.0030
National Center for Biotechnology Information (2023). “Caffeine”, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Caffeine
Sledz, W., et al. (2017). Influence of Exogenously Supplemented Caffeine on Cell Division, Germination, and Growth of Economically Important Plants. https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/54463
Smyth, D. (1992). “Effect of Methylxanthine Treatment on Rice Seedling Growth”, https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00198025
Sugiyama, A., et al. (2015). “Caffeine Fostering of Mycoparasitic Fungi against Phytopathogens”, https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2015.1113362
Wright, G. A., et al. (2013). “Caffeine in Floral Nectar Enhances a Pollinator’s Memory of Reward”, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1228806