Volume 49 Number 3

Effects of caffeine on growth and metabolite production of Cordyceps militaris

Thanyarat Puttika^a,b, Waeowalee Choksawangkarn^c, Sunita Chamyuang^a,b, Amorn Owatworakit^a,b,*

 
ABSTRACT:     This study was aimed to address the caffeine response of Cordyceps militaris, an entomopathogenic fungi, on growth, development, metabolite production, and caffeine modification. Our results demonstrated that caffeine showed a dosage effect on growth, development, and adenosine production of C. militaris. Without caffeine, the mycelial growth rate of the control was 0.42?0.02 cm/day, but at concentrations of 0, 1 and 10 mM, caffeine inhibited the mycelial growth of C. militaris with reduced growth rates of 0.37?0.01 and 0.27?0.01 cm/day, respectively; and the number of conidia was also reduced by 23% and 77%, respectively. Caffeine also affected the fungal metabolite production by increasing the extracellular adenosine productivity 5-fold (from 4.34?0.60 ?g/g/day to 24.28?0.65 ?g/g/day), but there was no change in the cordycepin production (p < 0.05). Interestingly, this fungus could metabolize caffeine, resulting in an accumulation of its derivatives, including theophylline (55.23?2.18 ?g/ml), theobromine (16.95?0.97 ?g/ml), and paraxanthine (12.88?1.22 ?g/ml). The findings provided a new understanding of how caffeine affects the growth of C. militaris. The information could be useful for the production of bioactive compounds of either adenosine or caffeine derivatives.

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* Corresponding author, E-mail: amorn@mfu.ac.th

Received 23 Feb 2024, Accepted 20 Oct 2024