CBDV
Cannabis plants contain all kinds of chemically-active compounds known as cannabinoids, including the substance cannabidivarin (CBDV). CBDV is not psychoactive, meaning it does not affect the brain’s ability to function. It does, however, have a positive effect on a variety of conditions, including epilepsy – even in serious cases. Some 50 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy. However, nearly a third of these patients do not respond to the current methods of treatment. A 2014 study showed that CBDV represses the symptoms of epilepsy. Other research has shown that CBDV stimulates bone growth and combats nausea.
Shortage
The problem is that the substance occurs in cannabis plants only in minute quantities, while treating 10% of epilepsy patients would require 1,500 metric tons of pure CBDV. To obtain such an amount, you would need to cultivate an enormous number of cannabis plants. Not only that, but growing cannabis plants for medicinal purposes is governed by strict regulations and is still frequently regarded as controversial.
Yeast on a large scale
In order to obtain enough CBDV in some other fashion, researchers at Hyasynth Bio, a start-up from Montreal, Canada, began looking for a solution in the world of microbes. In many other biotechnological applications, bacteria, fungi and yeasts are used to produce highly pure substances on a large scale. The Canadian researchers therefore extracted the fragment of DNA containing the information for CBDV from a cannabis plant and incorporated it into the genetic code of a yeast. This enabled them to have the yeast produce the substance, eliminating the need for cannabis plants.
Rescource: Newscientist