May 12, 2020 By dsadmin

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Using Bioengineered Yeast To Produce CBD

Therapeutic and personal care products containing the cannabis compound, CBD, is making the scientific world and commoners equally curious. CBD is extracted from cannabis plants like marijuana and hemp that have different concentrations of phytochemicals. Marijuana is bred for its high THC content while hemp plants are known for its high CBD content. Legal CBD products in the US are exclusively sourced from hemp.

Cultivating hemp for extracting CBD is a time-consuming process that requires the cultivators to be extremely careful about the growing conditions to regulate the cannabinoid contents in the crop. Innovation in CBD research has made the idea of using bioengineered yeast to produce CBD practical.

Using Yeast To Produce CBD

After a paper published in the journal, Nature outlined the concept of using yeast to produce cannabidiol, the idea gained a lot of publicity. In the process of fermentation, yeast produces alcohol when it is fed sugars. The process is crucial in the industrial production of beer, wine, bread, etc.

Making alterations in the enzymes by genetic engineering and adding intermediates, scientists succeeded in producing cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), the compound that acts as a precursor to CBD and THC produced by cannabis plants. Treating the precursor, CBGA with special enzymes results in the production of final CBD products.

THC and CBD produced using yeast is different from that produced by cannabis plants. Versions of THC and CBD produced using yeast are purely synthetic unlike the versions produced from cannabis. Synthetic CBD is more useful in edibles and oils, as they are more therapeutic than a recreational substance.

The idea of using yeast to produce CBD is not an entirely new one. In fact, the idea was proposed for the first time in 2015, when a team of scientists led by Oliver Keyser, a bioengineer succeeded in producing small amounts of CBD by feeding CBGA to yeast. However, the process was dependent on an additive in forming the final product. The initial success inspired the scientific world to invest in the production of CBD using yeast.

Yeast strains are used in the production of various drugs of high importance in healthcare. Almost 20% of pharmaceuticals that are in use today are produced using yeast. The most famous application is the production of insulin using yeast. Using yeast to produce CBD reduces the effort required for CBD production by cultivating hemp.