0820
Cannabinoids from tobacco
Cannabinoids are natural components which have a high
potential to meet various therapeutical needs. Although
some of them (like THC and CBD) are abundantly present
in Cannabis plants, the psychotropic nature of THC
requires strong regulation of plantproduction. Moreover,
some promising candidate compounds are present only
in minor amounts in common Hemp or Cannabis.
Therefore, atailormade, biotechnological production of
specific Cannabinoids is a keytechnology.
Department
Biology
Subject area
Applied-Plant Science
Patent number
EP20207220
Contact person
Prof. Dr. Heribert Warzecha
warzecha@bio.tu-darmstadt.de
+49 6151 16-20900
Downloads
The exposé is available to download here as a PDF.
While most biotechnological systems rely on
microorganisms for fermentative processes, like
bacteria or yeast, we develop a plant-based system. The
latter takes advantage of low energy input due to
photosynthetic capacity as well as of the complex
biosynthetic routes plants can perform. We have
identified a feature of our host plant tobacco which
potentially substitutes the key enzymatic step in the
biosynthetic route to cannabinoids. This enables the
substitution of IP-protected steps within the
biosynthesis.