Coffee is an important crop and is crucial to the economy of
many developing countries, generating around US$70 billion per
year. There are 115 species in the Coffea genus, but only two,
C. arabica and C. canephora, are commercially cultivated. Coffee
plants are attacked by many pathogens and insect-pests, which
affect not only the production of coffee but also its grain
quality, reducing the commercial value of the product. The main
insect-pest, the coffee berry borer (Hypotheneumus hampei), is
responsible for worldwide annual losses of around US$500
million. The coffee berry borer exclusively damages the coffee
berries, and it is mainly controlled by organochlorine
insecticides that are both toxic and carcinogenic.
Unfortunately, natural resistance in the genus Coffea to H.
hampei has not been documented. To overcome these problems,
biotechnological strategies can be used to introduce an
α-amylase inhibitor gene (α-AI1), which confers resistance
against the coffee berry borer insect-pest, into C. arabica pl