The Biotechnology of Cannabis sativa

dontexist21 said:

My main point is genetic engineering as a whole is something that is barely understood. We do not understand how DNA functions, even when dealing with lower level organism such as plants. How can we modify the DNA when we don't understand it. There is no responsible way of using genetic engineering in its current form. A few decades when we have done much more work on it I would like to see it being used on a wider scale, but not now, not when it would do more harm then good. Even when people with the best intentions cannot use it responsibly in its current state. I also do not think that we need to. There is a reason plants produce harmful chemicals, it helps them survive, you might be doing more harm then good. And THC and many of the other helpful compounds can always be extracted using simple procedures. Hell if you gave me a few simple widely used solvents, a few pieces of lab equipment, I could give you some of the purest extract that you have ever had. Using barely any heat, so no lost of THC and no chance of solvents being left in the final product. And with time the separate compounds can be separated if I used some other methods, this would mean you would only get the specific pain relief that the patient needs. And no need to be using untested genetic engineering.

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dontexist21 said:

No offense but I really hope you don't, any genetic engineering should be done by someone that is trained and fully understands it. Messing with the DNA of any living thing should not be done unless you have a background with biochemistry, and I am not just talking about high school biology, I mean read multiple books and papers on biology and chemistry, have put in the lab work learning the techniques, and have understand the risk associated with it. You will also need to acquire many of the tools which they use to even come close to being able to duplicate it. Just the grow chamber that he uses is a extremely expensive instrument. I would not be surprised if it cost him a few thousand. In my old lab we had one that was a few years old, work well but my prof said it was just to expensive to buy another one. This guy has funding from the Clinton foundation. Also bacteria lines are really expensive, you also have to store them in a -80C freezer, costing tens of thousands, with liquid nitrogen or you cannot use them for more then 24 hrs. And creating enough bacteria to run a series of experiments can take a few days.

If you are truly interested in this I do suggest you put in the time understanding the science and ask around if you can work in a lab if you have the qualifications to learn the skills. I have been working in a lab for 2 years, and I did some genetic engineering and organic chemistry, and I know that I would not be able to duplicate his experiments properly. Not just because I still need to learn more, also because I do not have the funds to even dream about doing this.

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northernheights said:

Hi everyone,

Hope you will forgive introducing myself in this part of the forum. I just wanted you all to be aware of this:

The Biotechnology of Cannabis Sativa

It's a free discourse on the ways biotechnology (genetic engineering) may be applied to increase cannabis potency and to possibly create a whole mess of novel structural phenotypes.

Most (if not all) of the genes in the THC production pathways have been sequenced and can be obtained for free on sites like NCBI's entrez.

Sam Zwenger, the author of the pdf I linked even goes on to document actual transgenic GFP (green fluorescent protein) cannabis. Doesn't look like much, but this is a milestone in DIY genetic engineering. Next year, I hope to duplicate his results and possibly start my own transgenic cannabis projects.

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dontexist21 said:

There is still a big difference between selecting two different males and females because they have certain traits, and changing their genetic code. The former is requires you to change the DNA code of a living organism, and by doing that you can never be certain of what will actually occur. If cannabis were to be legalized you can be sure that the same methods of cultivation that are used with corn today will be used with cannabis. I am not completely against genetic engineering, I just think that its wide spread use in the industrial sector should be stopped till we have a understanding of it. Today scientist barely understand the genetic code, so how can scientist believe that they can change the code for any living species without having harmful consequences. We are decades away from even coming close to the dream of doing this in a responsible fashion. One of the main reasons that few seed banks contain a majority of the strains is related the fact that it is still considered a illegal substance in much of the world. I believe with just legalizing it would allow different strains to cross country borders. We do not need to rush into genetic engineering, cannabis while a wonderful plant, is not worth using a science that is barely understood and still needs decades before we can properly use it in a responsible manner.

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WadeZilla said:

You do need to store bacteria in a -80 freezer but you don't use liquid N2 you use glycerol in a 15% final concentration. Another thing you mentioned is the use of viruses for transgenics and how this increases viral resistance to drugs in the environment. I do not use viruses for this, I use Agrobacterium and its ability to insert foreign DNA into a host.

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rollinronan said:

liquid N is the key component of the -80 freezer and glycerol is a preservative just like using DMSO at 5% final conc.

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WadeZilla said:

I understand that liquid N2 is what refrigerates a -80, but that's not the only part of his comments that I disagreed with. I believe that it is possible to have GM Cannabis crops considering that it is not a food staple. Most crops, especially indoor crops, could be contained in the growing process and once harvested, are not risks for releasing unstable genetics into the environment. My argument was that it is not that difficult or as dangerous as it is stated to create/introduce GM Cannabis. If anything, the genetic studies alone would help us to understand the underpinnings of the psychoactive and medicinal products of the plant and therefore led to more effective Cannabis around the world.

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Alex Kelly said:

If you are not familiar with how genetic engineerng works, and why it is dangerous and should not be applied to cannabis, or anything that you ingest, go on Hulu and watch "Th Future of Food." Near the beginning of the documentary, they go over how Monsanto uses genetic engineering to produce the corn that we all eat today. They use two viruses, one of them being Ecoli, to "inject" the chosen genes into the host cells. Check it out it scares me.

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RRLBT420 said:

Monsanto's already way ahead of you, .

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RRLBT420 said:

one large danger is their "teminator seeds" potentially spreading the gene across plant species, giving it the potential to completely wipe out all food. think about that, they have the power to literally starve the world, and really no way to contain it if it were to happen.

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