Scientists Identify Opium Poppy Genes Responsible for the Production of Codeine and Morphine
March 15th, 2010Via: Independent:
Scientists have identified the genes of the opium poppy responsible for the production of the painkillers codeine and morphine, which could lead to new ways of making the drugs without having to cultivate fields of poppies.
Opium poppies naturally produce morphine and smaller amounts of codeine in their seed pods. They are collected from the opium poppy by scraping the unripe seed capsule and collecting and drying the rubbery sap that is exuded from the scratched surface.
But about 10 times as much opium is made for the illegal heroin trade as for the legitimate manufacture of morphine and codeine. Finding ways of making the painkillers without having to grow the opium poppy could have an impact on attempts to control the heroin trade. The scientists, having isolated two key genes involved in the production of the enzymes in the metabolic pathway leading to the production of codeine and morphine, hope it may soon be possible to produce these complex molecules on an industrial scale using genetically modified microbes, such as yeast or bacteria, which can be grown in giant fermenting vessels.
“Our discovery now makes it possible to use micro-organisms to produce opiate drugs and other important pharmaceuticals,” said Professor Peter Facchini, of the University of Calgary in Canada, who led the study published in Nature Chemical Biology.
and this is being solid as an ANTI DRUG measure?!
That microbe of theirs, if it ever gets out… your bath tub becomes an industrial-scale heroin factory.
this really makes me laugh.
using GE to bypass poppies and go straight to the morphine and codeine from vats of yeast…is supposed to make it harder for the profiteers from prohibition to make a killing? oh look! there’s a pig flying past my window, right now! as ad agencies in nz like to say…yeah, right.
for anyone living in nz in the late 70s and 80s and old enough to remember, the word “homebake” has certain connotations. the “number 8 fencing wire” method of manufacturing a heroin analogue.
hello, captain obvious, but this is just a new way of cutting mr. peasant and mr. mujahid out of the picture. turf war, anyone?