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by madengr 3311 days ago
Could the genes that produce THC be spliced into common lawn grass?
3 comments

Yes, and they're all characterized. It would be difficult, though; you're looking at about a half-dozen genes for the intermediary steps from something common like acetyl-coa.

But with just THC, it probably wouldn't mimic the effects of cannabis very well. There wouldn't be any CBD, terpenes, etc etc.

Still, you could do it. It'd probably be easiest with something like tobacco which is well-understood and already has a system for sequestering cytotoxins.

Doubt you'd get something with appreciable yield stably transfected before wider legalization hits, though. And that would be some expensive pot.

DMT would probably be the easiest. It's only three steps from tryptophan, and I believe ask the enzymes are pretty simple.
Splice the gene directly in to your liver stem cells and be done with the middle-man once and for all.
That is the stuff of urban legends ...

http://www.fleeb.com/rant/pot.html