Scientists in California have developed a strain of yeast that can be used to brew cannabis extract rather than beer.
With just the addition of sugar, the genetically modified yeast fermented to produce pure cannabinoid compounds including mind-altering THC and the non-psychoactive CBD, which is used medically to treat conditions including chronic pain and childhood epilepsy.
The scientists, who have already launched a cannabinoid brewing company, say the process is considerably cheaper, safer and more environmentally friendly than extracting the compounds from marijuana plants.
Jay Keasling, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of California Berkeley, was the lead author of the study. "The process is just like brewing beer," she said. "You feed the yeast sugar and they produce the cannabinoid you want to produce, rather than ethanol, which they would normally produce."
The designer yeast also yielded novel cannabinoid compounds or chemicals that exist only in tiny quantities in marijuana plants, raising the possibility that brewing could revolutionise the production of these substances and expand their potential medical applications.
