Genetic secrets of poppies' painkillers unlocked
March 15, 2010
THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY–Scientists at the University of Calgary announced Sunday they have unlocked one of the genetic secrets of the opium poppy – a discovery that may open the door to cheaper and more readily available pain relief.
Biological sciences professor Peter Facchini said they have traced the unique genes that allow the opium poppy to make codeine and morphine.
"The enzymes encoded by these two genes have eluded plant biochemists for a half-century," said Facchini in an interview.
"In finding not only the enzymes but also the genes, we've made a major step forward. It's equivalent to finding a gene involved in cancer or other genetic disorders."
The 46-year-old Toronto-born scientist has been researching the opium poppy for close to two decades and, with the help of researcher Jillian Hagel, has been trying to specifically unlock the gene secrets for two years.
Hagel did much of the legwork, he said.
Using high-tech scanning equipment, she sorted through up to 23,000 different genes contained on one tiny slide.
More than a year ago, on Feb. 4, 2009, she ultimately located a gene called codeine O-demethylase, which produces the plant enzyme that converts codeine into morphine.
"It was finding the needle in a haystack," said Facchini.
"It was one of her eureka moments.
"Science is like that. It's a lot of tedious work, then you have these seconds of sheer excitement because you know you've found something."
Since then, they have been busy checking and expanding on their work, which was published Sunday in the online edition of Nature Chemical Biology.
Facchini has filed a patent on the technology. He says the applications could have an enormous impact on the business of painkillers in Canada.
Codeine is one of the most commonly used painkillers in the world. In Canada, consumers spend more than $100 million a year on codeine-containing pharmaceutical products.
Canadians are among the world's top per capita consumers of the drug, but must have it imported from countries like France and Australia, said Facchini.
He said he's cautious on what the discovery means for consumers' bottom line.
"I'm always skeptical as to whether an industry finding a way of producing something cheaper is going to pass those savings on to the consumer."
He said the big change could be on the production side.
Toronto Star
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