Scientists Discover How Cannabinoids Evolved
Summarize
Scientists at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have uncovered how cannabis plants evolved the ability to produce cannabinoids such as THC, CBD and CBC. This is the first direct experimental evidence of the evolutionary process. Published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal, the study explains not only where these familiar compounds come from, but also how their biochemical origins may support future medical and biotechnological applications.
Cannabinoids are formed through a series of chemical reactions driven by enzymes within the cannabis plant. In today’s cannabis plant, separate enzymes are responsible for producing the specific cannabinoids THC, CBD and CBC. The WUR researchers discovered that this was not always the case. Early in cannabis evolution, a single ancestral enzyme was capable of producing multiple cannabinoids. As the enzyme evolved, gene duplication led to the enzyme copies diverging and specializing. These are the enzymes found in modern cannabis plants.
The research team used a technique known as ancestral sequence reconstruction to identify how the enzymes evolved. By comparing DNA sequences from modern cannabis and related plants, they inferred the genetic makeup of enzymes that existed millions of years ago in early cannabis plants.
The ancient enzymes were recreated in the laboratory and tested experimentally. The results provided evidence that cannabinoid biosynthesis happened relatively recently in cannabis evolution and became increasingly specialized over time.
This study offers insights for biotechnology. The reconstructed ancestral enzymes were found to be more robust and easier to produce in microorganisms such as yeast than modern cannabis enzymes. This is important in industries like pharmaceuticals and medical, as they increasingly rely on biotechnological methods, rather than plants alone, to produce cannabinoids at scale.
According to WUR researcher Robin van Velzen,
“What once seemed evolutionarily ‘unfinished’ turns out to be highly useful. These ancestral enzymes are more robust and flexible than their descendants, which makes them very attractive starting points for new applications in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research.”
For example, one reconstructed evolutionary intermediate produces CBC with high specificity. However, no existing cannabis plant naturally produces it in large amounts. Introducing such an enzyme into cannabis or microbial systems could enable the development of new medicinal products and plant varieties.
The research demonstrates how studies of plant evolution can reveal the origins of medically important compounds while opening new pathways for sustainable and targeted cannabinoid production. Eventually, this type of research could also make the production of cannabinoids like CBC less expensive.
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