Canadian scientists create morphine producing yeast

[nuke]

Nuke, any chance you know the actual reference IDs for the research, I would really like to read it.

Think it's this study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19665152

 

[theotherside]

Best article all month!!!! Thanks for posting!

 

[cmeloni81]

Like to make some bread with that

 

[HighonLife]

US is not the only country with heroin users, you know. If you look at the map, it becomes pretty obvious why you mostly hear about Mexico and South America. Both Europe and Asia use almost exclusively Afghan heroin. And in countries like Russia there is a great deal of heroin users, so it can easily be that Afghanistan produces that 90%.

no way?

all im saying is 90% of the worls heroin seems like it almost has to be overestimated. im not saying afghanistan isnt a major/the major producer, but fuck 90% puts them at almost monopoly like status. and i dont think anyone will dispute that other regions of the world dont also produce large amounts of dope . im just being skeptical

 

[jspun]

I started a thread theorizing as to the feasability of this very subject (almost) in ADD a while back

Using Molecular cloning to produce microbe drug factories

interesting discussion

 

[orangescrewpen]

Thats pretty damn interesting. I wonder if down the track heroin producers will be able to utlilize this technology and there will be a huge influx of cheap heroin?

I think the problem though would be the centralization of production. It may be possible and cheaper to do but it risks the security of the heroin's manufacturer's supply by enabling it to be wiped out in a bust. If they stick to just processing opium, they retain the support of the populace by paying them for their labor and ensure that the raw material will be there because as shown, it is impossible to exterminate it all.

 

[phr]

Two things strike me.
The first is them claiming opiate analgesics are expensive. Perhaps the synthetic and semi-synthetic ones, but morphine, heroin, codeine, and even methadone are dirt cheap. The problem of less developed nations not having access to them has nothing to do with cost. It's the bullshit drug laws.

The second thing is:

Scientists could also block morphine production with engineered viruses that shut down the genes. In theory, such viruses might be used to eradicate opium poppy crops in places such as Afghanistan. But narcotic control experts question the wisdom of such a maneuver.

Fuck me, let's not give anti-drug LE any bright ideas. Although, logic would say that they don't want to win the war on drugs, just maintain the status quo along with their industry.

 

[orangescrewpen]

Scientists could also block morphine production with engineered viruses that shut down the genes. In theory, such viruses might be used to eradicate opium poppy crops in places such as Afghanistan. But narcotic control experts question the wisdom of such a maneuver.

This would be devastating if the virus spread and took out legitimate crops. I am not up to date the ability to bioengineer virus for such specific tasks, but I it is definitely still in the "in theory" stage and decades off. Hopefully the drug war will have ended by then and the scientists competent enough to perform such tasks will focus on legitimate medical applications.

 

[nativenick]

morphine producing yeast hmm u think they could make morphine beers with that

 

[nativenick]

why does that tongue guy look like what i just said is objectionable. thats supposed to be a silly tongue dammit

 

[vultdweller]

brave new world?

Thats pretty damn interesting. I wonder if down the track heroin producers will be able to utlilize this technology and there will be a huge influx of cheap heroin?

the expression of exogenous genes is performed all the time during the course of most cell-biological and genetic research most of which involves yeast or bacteria in some way (even for stuff like cancer research that isnt hardcore microbiology). the question is, how difficult would it be to recapitulate the entire pathway of morphine synthesis (which takes place in a plant) using a single-celled eukaryote like yeast.

a best-case scenario would be as follows: anyone could literally transport enough cells in the invisible dirt under his finger nails to produce huge colonies of these pathway-competent yeast in a matter of days, yielding kilogram-scale harvests of crude morphine product from a bathtub of kitchen waste and rain water. trivial in the isolation of such a strain would be the insertion of a gene encoding resistance factor(s) to some common pet-store fungicide (come to think of it i have no idea why they would sell fungicide at a pet store, but whatever) which would be able to eliminate competing molds or bacteria from the old bananas and lasagna. etc that you recycle as the food source of these 'wonder yeast'.

the only limitation on comprehensive breach of prohibition would be the availability of expertise in heroin synthesis from morphine. this is fascinating because it would change politics of prohibition in a fundamental way: whatever law is subverted would be subverted with impunity thus, in the face of an un-winnable war on the drug(s), tolerance would be the only possible alternative .