A team of scientists from Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation Embrapa and the University of Brasilia have discovered tranquilizing properties in previously unknown protein fragments of coffee beans.

They did tests and found that these opioid peptides outperformed morphine in mice.

The characterization of these molecules is part of the doctoral thesis of Felipe Vinecky  and when they found internal fragments with structures similar to some human endogenous opioids, such as enkephalin, they decided to synthesize structural analogues to experimentally evaluate the biological functions and physiological effects in mammals. A protein concentrate present in the endosperm (most of the seed) coffee was subjected to enzymatic digestion in vitro to simulate the digestive process in humans and deduce bioavailability and activity of these molecules. 



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The methodology was developed at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology using knowledge of biochemical pathways processing, repair and degradation of nucleic acids and proteins associated with analytical biochemistry techniques created by researchers.  

From the synthetic analogues, mice tests were performed at the University of Brasilia, which showed an effect similar to morphine - except a lot longer, the time duration of the analgesic effect is about four hours. There were no observed side effects.  

 The sequencing of the functional coffee genome in 2004 resulted in a database with more than 200,000 gene sequence. It is available to research institutions. In 2010, Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, researcher Eduardo Romano, in partnership with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), also identified genes for drought tolerance, which can be transferred to other crops such as sugarcane, soy, etc.  

The application of seven peptides identified in this study was referred to the patent INPI - National Institute of Intellectual Property on August 18, 2014, under the title of "opioid peptides" (PI20140203524-BR).