Guaraná (Paullinia cupana) rewards seed dispersers withouth intoxicating them by caffeine

The fruit of the Amazonian guaraná liana (Paullinia cupana) looks like a human eye, and undoubtedly shows the 'bird dispersal syndrome'. The seeds were reported to be ingested by large birds such as toucans and guans. We determined the purine alkaloid content of the various fruit and seed parts. The two aspects of defence and dispersal are reflected in the differential seed alkaloid distribution: the seed kernel (embryo with bulky cotyledons) and the seed coat (testa) accumulate much caffeine, i.e.4.28 and 1.64 per cent respectively, whereas the 'the white of the eye', the aril, is virtually alkaloid-free, but contains glucose, fructose and sucrose up to almost 70 per cent of aril dry weight. Furthermore, the aril is strongly hygroscopic and it is suggested that it extends germination power by preventing seed desiccation. Experiments simulating pH and temperature conditions in the avian stomachs showed rapid desintegration of the aril and no caffeine release by the intact seed at pH 4.5 (crop) during the first 30 min of 'digestion'. Only a tiny fraction (between 0.025 and 0.07 per cent) of total seed caffeine left the intact seed after 60 min at pH 4.5 or during the incubation at pH 2.3 (gizzard), indicating the presence of a very powerful diffusion barrier in the seed coat which at least theoretically should prevent intoxication of the dispersing bird even after and assumed foraging bout of 59 seeds. The cracked seed, however, releases a considerable fraction of its caffeine, considered harmful to destructive birds, if a few seeds were processed in this way. Absence of caffeine in the aril could well be the result of a 'secondary' degradation during maduration, analogous to hypoglycin A in the aril of the closely related sapindaceous Blighia sapida.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	47288 Baumann, T.W., 117254 Schulthess, B.H., 79426 Hänni, K.
Format:	biblioteca
Published:	1995
Subjects:	PAULLINIA CUPANA, SAPINDACEAE, PLANTAS ESTIMULANTES, DISEMINACION DE SEMILLAS, PAJAROS, AZUCARES, ALCALOIDES DE LA XANTINA, PURINAS, CAFEINA,
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!