Genetically Engineered Yeast and the Future of Cannabinoid Production

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Since the scientific discovery of cannabinoids, these unique compounds that act on our internal endocannabinoid system (ECS) have typically been associated with the cannabis plant. That all may change with a recent breakthrough in genetic engineering. Scientists have created brewer’s yeast (yes, the kind that makes beer) capable of manufacturing multiple cannabinoids, including THC, CBD, THCV-A and CBV, as well as the “parent” cannabinoid CBG-A.

The Role of Yeast cheap bongs under 10$

To understand how yeast is able to produce cannabinoids, it is important to understand just what role yeast plays in making beer. Brewer’s yeast makes beer alcoholic by eating sugar and excreting alcohol. It is this metabolic process that transforms plant matter and water into the familiar brews we love. These tiny magical chemical factories perform this process rather efficiently, making them attractive to scientists for research purposes.

These synthetic genomes grant researchers an unprecedented amount of control over the genetic makeup of the organism. The fact that base sugars are transformed into a wide variety of chemical compounds in plants and other organisms led scientists to believe yeast could be induced to excrete things other than alcohol. It turns out they were right. Capitalizing on previous work, scientists altered key functions within baker’s yeast and introduced parts of the cannabis plant’s genome to create a yeast capable of turning the common sugar galactose into a number of known cannabinoids. With current methods, the process is still too expensive and inefficient to be commercially viable, however, as gene editing techniques and other necessary processes become faster and cheaper, is seems only a matter of time. animal bongs

Why Bother Going Beyond Beer?

Of course, formulating yeast to produce THC is fascinating in a sort of mad-scientist way, but what use does it have? Growers have been finding new ways to maximize yields for decades, so why do we need to make THC like beer? Despite THC percentages steadily climbing higher year by year, the overall cultivation of THC via cannabis plants is still quite resource-intensive. Anyone who has brewed beer is aware that aside from putting ingredients together, the yeast tends to do most of the work. Harvesting THC from yeast has the potential to drastically reduce water and electricity costs.

Furthermore, on the cannabis plant, cannabinoids are not present in equal amounts. As the plant matures through its lifecycle, it first produces CBG. Once CBG production is finished, enzymes in the plant change that CBG into the familiar cannabinoids we know and love. However this base material is somewhat finite, meaning that the presence of one cannabinoid comes at the cost of another. A plant high in THC will typically be low in CBD and other cannabinoids, just as a plant with more CBD will usually have less THC. This makes certain cannabinoids rarer than others, such as THC-V or CBC. Yeast-based cannabinoid cultivation may allow for the harvesting of larger amounts of these rare cannabinoids, opening a whole new side to our understanding of the endocannabinoid system.

Going even further, the team who made the engineered yeast also reported the creation of new cannabinoids. Whether or not these new cannabinoids are useful to the human endocannabinoid system remains to be seen, but the potential for new therapeutic compounds could be revolutionary to modern medicine. In the scope of science, both THC and CBD are relatively recent discoveries, and as such, we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what cannabinoids can do. This new technology offers a potential way to discover the secrets of cannabinoids in ways previously impossible.