Hemp And Marijuana: Genes Producing THC, Active Ingredient In Cannabis Plant, Identified

Hemp And Marijuana: Genes Producing THC, Active Ingredient In Cannabis Plant, Identified

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2009) — In a first step toward engineering a drug-free Cannabis plant for hemp fiber and oil, University of Minnesota researchers have identified genes producing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Studying the genes could also lead to new and better drugs for pain, nausea and other conditions.

The finding is published in the September issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany. Lead author is David Marks, a professor of plant biology in the College of Biological Sciences.

The study revealed that the genes are active in tiny hairs covering the flowers of Cannabis plants. In marijuana, the hairs accumulate high amounts of THC, whereas in hemp the hairs have little. Hemp and marijuana are difficult to distinguish apart from differences in THC.

With the genes identified, finding a way to silence them—and thus produce a drug-free plant — comes a step closer to reality. Another desirable step is to make drug-free plants visually recognizable. Since the hairs can be seen with a magnifying glass, this could be accomplished by engineering a hairless Cannabis plant.

The researchers are currently using the methods of the latest study to identify genes that lead to hair growth in hopes of silencing them.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915113538.htm

some potent weed.

instead of silencing them?

I know a botanist who has been talking for decades about growing just flowers in vitro.

On one hand, I want to see us grow and use hemp again. I think the knowledge gained from the research is important. But I'm not so hot on genetic engineering. We could just as easily change the law and allow current hemp strains to be grown. Cheaper, quicker, and we would be growing from well developed strains.

It makes the blood pressure raise, heart rate too. It is the balance, derived over thousands of years, all of that time selected for good effect, and the human body also aligning, that makes Cannabis therapeutic. Fuck this crap, marinol sucks too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol

Is THC "anti-entropy" too?

:crazy:

And because I know what we're talking about, I know that you do not know what we are talking about.

The only way I know how to explain it is in terms of alchemy. When you put the Halogenic into the Crucible. What comes out of the crucible depends entirely upon what you have placed in the crucible to feed the stone. :dilemma:

:dunce:

And get it past politicians easier.

Farm out....

Unless you can find another plant that has the final precursor to THC.

A related plant is the hop, used in flavoring beer.

And many other plants, and you have a legal high... ;)

They're not that far off from cannabis sativa. It would be an interesting mutation. And far less harmful than anything that ever crawled out of a MonSatan laboratory.

Hmmm.

I haven't smoked in years, but if I ever did again, the last thing I'd want is a bong full of Roundup.

It's pesticides?

legalize this plant and stop this bullshit.

Here in the midwest it is called ditch weed (among many other names) and it can grow 15 feet tall. It is a feral species that the law wastes a lot of time trying to eradicate in the war on poor folks...oops I mean...drugs. Far meres around here were paid by Uncle Sam to grow this species of hemp imported from China during WWII. Wild birds love the seeds, but the stuff wouldn't get a goat high. Trust me.

Also, this article is misleading and perpetuating several marijuana myths. Firstly, the THC is not contained in what most would view as the "the hairs" on the flower. High concentrations of THC are found in the very tiny mushroom shaped structures extruded from the stomata and calyxes surrounding the flowers. You could remove all the little red hairs from a flower or large bud and not get high from smoking them alone. It is not possible to judge the THC content of a plant by looking at "the hairs" nor the tiny glass like structures of the dried resins on the flower. I have heard from very reliable sources of cannibas that had red hairs and glistened like a bowl of sugar frosted corn flakes that had an apparent very low THC content.

Additionally, THC is not the only psychoactive ingredient in the plant. There are at least 60 THC related chemicals, nearly all them having some effect, along with set and setting, on the quality, duration, intensity of the high.

Lastly, I call bullshit on the marijuana with 25% THC content. How do they come up with this number? By percentage of weight of the plant? Stems and all? No way! If you find some marijuana like that, send it to my laboratory for further study.

Mmmmmm....sugar frosted corn flakes.