DOMECKOPOL, PIXABAY
The recent identification of a poppy plant gene has brought researchers one step closer to making morphine in the lab rather than in fields. The protein the gene codes for, called STORR, was described last week (June 25) in Science and represents the last cog in the enzymatic machinery required to engineer yeast to produce morphine.
“The publication of this gene provides the missing link for the production of morphine in yeast—there's no doubt about it,” study coauthor Ian Graham, a geneticist at the Center for Novel Agricultural Products at the University of York told the LA Times. “I think it's only a matter of time before there is a proof-of-concept demonstration in yeast that this can happen.”
Researchers at the University of York and ...
