What innovative biotechnology techniques are being used in the Cannabis sativa plant to enhance its medicinal properties?
The medicinal use of the Cannabis sativa (C. sativa) plant dates back thousands of years. The application of medicinal cannabis can be observed in ancient Chinese codices (2727 B.C.). Its medical-therapeutic use is also found in the millennial stages of Indian, Persian, and Roman cultures, among others, where cannabis was used to alleviate various ailments such as gout, rheumatism, premenstrual syndrome, and infections like malaria.
In the vibrant field of biomedical research, the evolution of biotechnological techniques is transforming the way we understand and use this plant, which has been employed for medicinal purposes for so many years. Within these investigations, we can observe advances at various levels, such as the discovery of new therapeutic targets for the molecules produced by the plant, genetic improvements in C. sativa, and even innovations in cultivation techniques.
Regarding advances in the use of biotechnological techniques applied to the cannabis plant, it is worth highlighting the use of the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) system, a genetic technique that allows the modification of the genome of living organisms. Thanks to this, it is possible to introduce improvements into the plant genome of C. sativa, as well as eliminate factors that are not of therapeutic interest. In this way, plants can be obtained with greater disease resistance, changes in plant architecture, or variations in the levels of pharmacologically relevant molecules, such as cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids. This technology is constantly advancing, not only in C. sativa but in a wide variety of plants, with new applications being discovered almost daily.
On the other hand, there have been a series of key advances in tissue culture and subsequent regeneration. This is a fundamental step for the genetic engineering of the C. sativa plant, as it is a critical phase for establishing an efficient and consolidated transgenic system. Specifically, this plant variety is one of the most recalcitrant to genetic transformation and regeneration. Advances in tissue culture enable the generation of stable lines of transformed plants with the desired genetic modifications, reprogramming the plant’s somatic cells into meristems, which are responsible for plant growth.
This biotechnology-based research can provide new tools to biomedicine in its quest for therapies for the various diseases that humanity faces, diseases that continue to emerge due to ongoing changes in factors such as longevity.
However, it is worth mentioning the slowdown of all these advances due to the lack of a properly regulated system for both cannabis research and the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). These have been censored, especially by the press and entities that, without knowledge on the subject, have generated a negative perception of this significant biotechnological advancement. Progress in biotechnological research is necessary to thoroughly study C. sativa, of which we only know the surface and those basic compounds (such as CBDA and THCA) found in large quantities. However, this plant harbors much more than this; we must be clear that it is a factory of molecules of high therapeutic interest, which we must exploit to the fullest.