hi all, Recently I discovered that the biosythetic pathway for THC has been cleared. I was wondering, since I happen to know a lot of this stuff, how would you feel if it was possible to make evoltionary related plants synthesise THC (for example a species that thrives better in our climate)? Suppose i can isolate the genes in the biosynthesis pathway (it's precursor is malonyl-CoA, a basic metabolism compound), and plant those genes in the genome of other plants? I know that in theory it can be done, but how would people react? Since I study biochemistry it should not be so hard (if the sequences are known for synthesis, transport and excretion in the extracellular space) to do this.
For many people that can't otherwise grow herb, I think they would be happy. There would be some that are anti-g.m.o., they probably wouldn't like it. I think its interesting, maybe grow a thc producing hops plant. Let us know if you do it.
Thats impressive. But I do think it will prove to be quite difficult. There are many new techniques for isolating genes so I suppose that is possible. But you still need to find a suitable vector, mark genes for selection. That is the typical approach used, and it sounds like these are long sequences so the newest, slickest methods would cost a fortune and still may not work. Lets say you were able to pull it off. I think people would be divided. Some would be thrilled at the opportunity to be involved in such research. And there would be the Happy pothead. And the concerned hippy. And there may be others who would oppose the work or who were indifferent.
you're talking about isolating/replicating the gene which expresses THC production? heh... transform some e.coli, let them do the work. those plants would, of course, have to have the precursors.. essential oils (like citral, linalool, pinene, olivetol, etc.) and resorcinol. malonyl-coa isn't going to make a plant develop THC by itself.
wouldnt it be easier to just grow pot in standardized conditions (hydroponics, under lamps, etc) so that your climate isnt important anyway?
lol yeah. it's fun to be idealistic, although not always practical. I had the idea last year to isolate a gene from periwinkle, and transform e.coli to express tryptophan decarboxylase, knowing it would just be easier to use my current setup to reflux tryptophan.
no sir, I had decarboxylation of tryptophan to tryptamine in mind. Refluxing trp is a real pain in the ass; requires a good deal of sustained heat (160C +), and alot of unchanged reactant remains, even after a full day of refluxing.
yes...but those plants would need to also produce the terpenoid compounds that eventually end up as THC (i.e. olivetol, citral)
In theory it is possible, I had a similar idea a couple of years ago; cloning the THC genes into another plant (Imagine THC-apples). However the metabolic pathway of THC biosyntheis is not yet fully characterized (it is not that easy to do molecular biology research with this type of models…).
Isn't the chemical THC illegal in the US and other countries because marinol is a synthetic version of THC and its schedule 3
THC is schedule I. THC in sesame oil in gelcaps provided via prescription is Schedule III. Schedule I substances have "no medical use" and every substance in higher schedules has a medical use but has different schedule placement based on "abuse potential." Totally retarded and contradictory, I know...
