(ads)
Israeli Prof. Raphael Mechoulam – ‘father of cannabis research’ and professor of medicinal chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – was the first scientist to discover in 1964 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main component of the cannabis plant that produces its psychoactive effects. His successors in Israel have now developed cannabis strains that contain far more cannabinoids – including THC – than are normally found in cannabis strains.
Broad collaboration to improve cannabis genetics
Mechoulam was also the first to isolate and synthesize the active psychoactive ingredients from cannabis, both THC and other cannabinoids. These discoveries form the basis of contemporary medical cannabis research. Following in his footsteps, a new batch of researchers from the Hebrew University have now successfully developed a cannabis plant with higher levels of cannabinoids, including THC.
The researchers from Professor Alexander Vainstein’s laboratory at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment in Rehovot are working with the university in Jerusalem. They received a grant from Mariana Bioscience, an Israeli R&D company, to develop superior technologies for the genetic improvement of cannabis. Prof. dr. Vainstein leads the project.
Cannabis with an extremely high amount of THC and more terpenes
The Israeli researchers are able to successfully develop and breed a cannabis plant with nearly 17 percent higher levels of THC and 25 percent higher levels of CBG (cannabigerol). The latter is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. The strain also has a 20 to 30 percent higher presence of terpenes, which are responsible for maximizing the euphoric and medicinal effects of cannabis.
“The researchers were able to develop their own cannabis plant by manipulating a plant virus, which was first neutralized. This means that the virus in question cannot harm the plant,” the university statement said. The researchers can make a version of this virus that “expresses” the plant’s genes and thus influences the production of active substances.
Scientists in Israel can use a virus to make the cannabis plant produce extremely high levels of THC… [foto: PRO Stock Professional/Shutterstock]
Developing new medicinal cannabis strains
Until now, there was no way to modify strains to produce certain cannabis compounds, or change the ratio between them, Professor Vainstein tells the website NoCamels† The results of this research are valuable for medical science. This makes it possible to breed and develop new strains for users of medicinal cannabis, and to increase the crop yield of active substances.
The researchers are developing an innovative infection-based technology using an engineered virus to enable chemical reactions that increase the amounts of desired substances. “We examined the infected plants and found that the levels of the substances in question had indeed increased,” says Vainstein.
This is the first time researchers have managed to achieve such a feat with cannabis plants.
Same space, better production
Vainstein: “It’s important to be able to generate more from the same amount of space. For example, if you grow a plant in a greenhouse and you get a 20 percent improvement, the price of the material will depend on the compounds you extract. Then the amount of extracts you can make determines the price. So growers can generate more revenue with the same amount of space coverage. I’m not familiar with approaches that can improve production speed. That makes it exciting for me as a researcher.”
The aim of the study is to develop a mechanism by which researchers can intervene in the biochemical pathways of the cannabis plant. This allows them to alter the levels of the active substances it produces. Ultimately, the grower will be able to decide which components – and how many of those components – are developed in the cannabis strain.
Depending on public demand, these strains can be produced by medical institutions or by (medicinal) home growers themselves. The findings show that this technology gives the producer/grower the ability to choose what the strain should or should not contain.
“This way of looking at it is the method of getting better material. Instead of having a lot of connections that you don’t care about, you have specific connections that are needed for a particular person. Specific aromas or specific colors can also be added to the variety,” says Vainstein.
Terpenes are also of great importance
Vainstein uses aroma as an example of a component that can be found in a cannabis strain: “We can add different aromas to the plant so that they generate not only cannabinoids but also different terpenes. So it will smell different. We are already well on the way with terpene production. So that is also a huge advantage, we hope.”
In the future, they want to generate varieties using metabolic engineering, based on the knowledge and experiments that have already been carried out. They want to generate varieties that produce specific cannabinoids or specific proportions.
Vainstein adds that more extensive experiments with the engineered plant are currently underway. These should be available to developers in the cannabis industry and for medical science research in the coming months…
[openingsbeeld: DyrElena/Shutterstock]
(ads)
