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motaman
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Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates
#21694607 - 05/18/15 01:36 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/18/home-brewed-heroin-scientists-yeast-that-can-make-sugar-into-opiates?CMP=share_btn_tw
Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates
Researchers have managed to reproduce the way poppies create morphine in the wild, but warn that the technology needs urgent regulation
Home-brewed heroin could become a reality, scientists have warned, following the creation of yeast strains designed to convert sugar into opiates.
The advance marks the first time that scientists have artificially reproduced the entire chemical pathway that takes place in poppy plants to produce morphine in the wild.
Scientists warned that the findings could pave the way for opium poppy farms being replaced by local morphine “breweries” and called for urgent regulation of the technology. In theory, opium brewing would be no more difficult to master than DIY beer kits, raising the possibility of people setting up Breaking Bad-style drug laboratories in their own homes.
Tania Bubela, a public health professor at the university of Alberta and co-author of a commentary on the research in the journal Nature, said: “In principle, anyone with access to the yeast strain and basic skills in fermentation could grow morphine-producing yeast using a home-brew kit for beer making.”
The team behind the advance have stopped one step short of linking together the entire chemical chain within a single easy-to-brew yeast strain, and announced a self-imposed moratorium on the work to allow law enforcement agencies and regulators time to catch up.
“We’re certainly not aiming for the illicit drugs market, that’s for sure,” said Vincent Martin, a microbiologist at Concordia University in Québec and co-author. “We realised that we’re entering into a brave new territory here. Me and my collaborators felt that various regulatory bodies should be consulted and talked to and we should build a consensus of how to take this forward.”
The findings, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, mark a turning point in efforts that have been made for more than a decade to replicate in microbes the 15-step chemical pathway in the poppy plant.
Scientists had previously succeeded in reproducing the second half of the chemical pathway, but the initial conversion of glucose to a compound called reticuline had proved a sticking point. The latest study cracks this problem for the first time by inserting genes from the poppy plant, sugar beet and a soil-dwelling bacteria into yeast.
Several existing yeast strains are available that can turn reticuline into morphine, and the scientists said that combining the two halves of the process was now feasible – although they have not yet attempted this final step.
“What you really want to do from a fermentation perspective is to be able to feed the yeast glucose, which is a cheap sugar source, and have the yeast do all the chemical steps required downstream to make your target therapeutic drug,” said John Dueber, lead author and a bioengineer at the University of California, Berkeley. “With our study, all the steps have been described, and it’s now a matter of linking them together and scaling up the process. It’s not a trivial challenge, but it’s doable.”
He predicted a timeline of a “couple of years, not a decade” for the reliable production of controlled drugs by sugar-fed yeast.
Being able to synthesise opiates in the laboratory raises the possibility of engineering new therapeutic forms of the drug, designed to be less addictive, more powerful or longer lasting, for instance.
“It creates a platform for finding new chemical structures that could have a lot of potential benefits,” said Martin.
However, it also raises concerns about the yeast falling into the wrong hands. In their commentary, Bubela and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) call for urgent regulation of the technology warning that it could lead to an alternative system for current criminal networks, particularly in North America and Europe, where the drugs are in high demand. “Because yeast is so easy to conceal, grow and transport, criminal syndicates and law-enforcement agencies would have difficulty controlling the distribution of an opiate-producing yeast strain,” the authors write. “All told, decentralised and localised production would almost certainly reduce the cost and increase the availability of illegal opiates - substantially worsening a worldwide problem.”
Future strains of morphine-producing yeast could be designed to have unusual nutrient requirements as a biocontainment measure, Bubela suggests. Such strains should also be kept in bio-secure facilities in the future, with similar safeguards to those used by researchers working with anthrax or smallpox.
Globally, more than 16 million people use opiates illegally. The drugs come from the misuse of prescription pain medications and from illegally cultivated poppy crops in countries such as Afghanistan, Laos and Mexico.
“The time is now to think about policies to address this area of research,” said Dueber. “The field is moving surprisingly fast, and we need to be out in front so that we can mitigate the potential for abuse.”
Martin said the team had no plans to complete the chain until regulations were in place to do so safely. “If this is something that we shouldn’t do, let’s talk about it now,” he added.
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Beanhead
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: motaman]
#21694622 - 05/18/15 01:41 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Buying yeast strains 1k each
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LSDreams
Contemplative Stoner



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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: Beanhead]
#21694707 - 05/18/15 02:12 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Time to start learning about the process of yeast, lol.
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Plants of Interest ~ Lemon Balm, Cannabis, Ayahuasca, Datura, Salvia divinorum, Tabernanthe iboga, Opium poppy, Kratom, Khat, Coca, Ipomoea tricolor, Psilocybin mushrooms, Peyote ~
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muistrue
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: LSDreams]
#21694738 - 05/18/15 02:25 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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It takes 80 gallons of yeast to produce a single 30mg dose of morphine. I think most people will continue to take the easier route and just grow some poppies.
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Cognitive_Shift
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: muistrue]
#21695258 - 05/18/15 05:22 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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If i'm not mistaken I think they have used yeast making LSD too
Link to Harvard scientists to make LSD factory from microbes http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/jun/21/scientists-make-lsd-from-microbes
-------------------- L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
Edited by Cognitive_Shift (05/18/15 05:31 PM)
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Observatory



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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
#21696314 - 05/18/15 09:51 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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here comes the wave of the future
-------------------- Look around you
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LittleDaddy



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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: Cognitive_Shift] 1
#21696326 - 05/18/15 09:53 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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I don't think you can make LSD from anything natural. the final step of converting the carboxylic acid on LSA to the diethylamide requires thionyl chloride or similarly reactive chemicals and there aren't any enzymes that cause that transformation in nature.
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The hotter the battle, the sweeter Jah victory. Put the heathen's back upon the wall.
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Beanhead
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: LittleDaddy]
#21696700 - 05/18/15 11:38 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
LittleDaddy said: I don't think you can make LSD from anything natural. the final step of converting the carboxylic acid on LSA to the diethylamide requires thionyl chloride or similarly reactive chemicals and there aren't any enzymes that cause that transformation in nature.
They already did with yeast.
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CLIT
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: muistrue]
#21697045 - 05/19/15 03:06 AM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Source?
How much can be made from a single poppy?
If they can make it from yeast I would assume they can make it out of poppy seeds as well (papaver somniferum).
Can something be made just by what part of the brain it affects then? Let's say since cocaine is an SNDRI, can a chemical with the same action be pass off as cocaine as well depending on how it was produced? St. John's Wort has SNDRI activity as well but it sure doesn't have the addictive potential of coke but it caused me serotonin syndrome the way coke would. Let me put it this way; St. John's Wort made me look or act as if I was on coke but I wasn't, and no euphoria was involved. Maybe mania and hypervigilance? I wonder if something can be made from St. John's Wort to make it have the euphoria the way coke does considering both have the same action (as an SNDRI).
I read the article, so for anyone to do what I am describing one would need to know molecular biology?
Quote:
muistrue said: It takes 80 gallons of yeast to produce a single 30mg dose of morphine. I think most people will continue to take the easier route and just grow some poppies.
Edited by CLIT (05/19/15 03:14 AM)
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LittleDaddy



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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: Beanhead]
#21697086 - 05/19/15 03:49 AM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Beanhead said:
Quote:
LittleDaddy said: I don't think you can make LSD from anything natural. the final step of converting the carboxylic acid on LSA to the diethylamide requires thionyl chloride or similarly reactive chemicals and there aren't any enzymes that cause that transformation in nature.
They already did with yeast.
Show me then. That article posted above shows they can make LSA.
Why would they get funding for producing a drug with no supposed benefits? They pitch that they can make LSA Because it's a scaffold for drugs we use.
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The hotter the battle, the sweeter Jah victory. Put the heathen's back upon the wall.
Edited by LittleDaddy (05/19/15 03:51 AM)
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Beanhead
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: LittleDaddy] 1
#21697098 - 05/19/15 04:00 AM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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"Google" "yeast" "LSD"
I've nothing to prove 
Edited by Beanhead (05/19/15 04:03 AM)
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LittleDaddy



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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: Beanhead] 1
#21698313 - 05/19/15 12:56 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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There's no article that shows that. The titles may say it, but all the text within the articles only say LSA.
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The hotter the battle, the sweeter Jah victory. Put the heathen's back upon the wall.
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ellomello
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: muistrue]
#21698683 - 05/19/15 02:44 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
muistrue said: It takes 80 gallons of yeast to produce a single 30mg dose of morphine. I think most people will continue to take the easier route and just grow some poppies.
SO do you have a source for that, Or just blatantly spreading misinformation? i haven't seen anywhere stating amounts that would be produced by the yeast.
Anyway, yeah poppies are the way to go... i don't think this yeast will escape, and even if it did i imagine would be more complicated than just brewing some.
IMO, the best chance of this ever reaching the public is if someone makes some from outside of the high security labs, and then distributes that to everybody.
This sounds far fetched to you and me, but someone with bio engineering degree! Using the published DNA sequences, and companies that create stretches of DNA.
-------------------- PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN get back to the garden
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muistrue
Inspired by the mystery


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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: ellomello]
#21698764 - 05/19/15 03:11 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
ellomello said:
Quote:
muistrue said: It takes 80 gallons of yeast to produce a single 30mg dose of morphine. I think most people will continue to take the easier route and just grow some poppies.
SO do you have a source for that, Or just blatantly spreading misinformation? i haven't seen anywhere stating amounts that would be produced by the yeast.
Read the actual study before accusing someone of spreading misinformation. 
William C DeLoache, Zachary N Russ, Lauren Narcross, Andrew M Gonzales, Vincent J J Martin & John E Dueber. An enzyme-coupled biosensor enables (S)-reticuline production in yeast from glucose. Nature Chemical Biology, May 2015 DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.1816
http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nchembio.1816.html
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Edited by muistrue (05/19/15 03:24 PM)
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NotTheDevil
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: muistrue]
#21698839 - 05/19/15 03:31 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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I hope the yeast never manages to be able to compete with wild yeasts, as the ecological effects would be devastating.
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Cognitive_Shift
CS actual




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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: NotTheDevil]
#21698852 - 05/19/15 03:34 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Don't worry jesus loves you.
-------------------- L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
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ellomello
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
#21698912 - 05/19/15 03:52 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Well, admittedly i was thinking 80 55-gallon drums for some reason, instead of 80 gallons. Sounds real now, (can't access paper) but i read the abstract and no reference to amounts.
-------------------- PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN get back to the garden
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Laughingcowwa
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: motaman]
#21700414 - 05/19/15 10:39 PM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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WOW, now where can I procure some this yeast?
-------------------- Those who doubt me, suck cock by choice
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CLIT
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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: motaman]
#21700775 - 05/20/15 12:40 AM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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who read the latest news about a heroin bust in NYC, 150 pounds of heroin worth 50 million? Is that price about right or just estimate?
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Cognitive_Shift
CS actual




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Re: Home-brewed heroin? Scientists create yeast that can make sugar into opiates [Re: CLIT]
#21700780 - 05/20/15 12:42 AM (8 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
CLIT said: 150 pounds of heroin worth 50 million? Is that price about right or just estimate?
What would jesus do?
-------------------- L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
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