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The BBC is reporting that...
Scientists have figured out how to brew morphine using the same kit used to make beer at home.
They have genetically modified yeast to perform the complicated chemistry needed to convert sugar to morphine.
Further...
If you brew beer at home, then you are relying on microscopic yeast that turns sugars into alcohol. But by borrowing DNA from plants, scientists have been genetically engineering yeasts that can perform each of the steps needed to convert sugar into morphine. One stage of the process - the production of an intermediary chemical called reticuline - had been a stumbling block.
That has been solved by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, and the scientists say it should now be possible to put all the steps together and "brew" morphine.
Dr John Dueber, a bioengineer at the university, said: "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.
"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."
Abstract from Nature.
[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mtrycz on Tuesday May 26 2015, @11:45AM
There is obviously always risk for infection, and anybody that has brewn beer by themselves knows it's really important to keep their equipment sterile. Here we're talking about lab-grade equipment, tho, so they know how to handle their stuff.
I think the real story here is that they freaking *engineered* a living thing to shit exactly what they want/need (as opposed to selecting species that shit what you want). This could open a whole new field for production of things, as well as pose new hazards.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday May 26 2015, @12:31PM
Free range organic designer drugs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:25PM
It is fairly trivial to turn the morphine into heroin, I wonder how long before they have branded heroin on the streets of Philadelphia. Then again, as this isn't natural morphine the process may change. Cheap diactyl morphine for everyone! Woohoo!
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2) by demonlapin on Tuesday May 26 2015, @09:32PM
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Wednesday May 27 2015, @02:38AM
I figured that was the case but I was not positive. I was not sure that the molecular structure was the same or if it was just close enough (say an extra hydrogen) so that they did not bother to rename it and called it morphine much like the analogues people create and have cooked up in China. As an aside, I would not recommend that in the US. The Analogue Act is a pretty mean beast and federal court is nothing nice and the penitentiaries are even worse I understand, I have never had the opportunity to personally experience either but that is not for lack of trying. :D
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:31AM
about the only variable would be the amount of 6-mono-acetyl morphine, or rather the ratio of 6-MAM to diacetyl. the acetylation process basically goes morphine -> 6-MAM -> diacetyl, and you want it to totally convert to diacetyl for the best high and best rush - 6-MAM is a pretty tame shot by comparison.
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:21AM
That is good to know. Thanks. Some lab equipment and some yeast, eh? Hmm...
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday May 26 2015, @01:48PM
You underestimate the lengths addicts will go to get high and the unscrupulous dealers looking to make money.
Again, don't underestimate greed. Not every drug dealer is an ignorant street thug. The guys at the top can pay top dollar to anyone willing to work for them.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:26AM
Indeed. There's stuff out there called desomorphine [wikipedia.org], better known by its Russian street name 'krokodil' (crocodile), so named because of the toxic effects that the generally impure desomorphine cooked by illicit laboratories has. The toxic impurities involved in its synthesis turn the user's skin scaly and green like a crocodile's [io9.com] (warning: graphic images in link) before rotting away. Pure desomorphine won't do that but illicit labs won't bother removing the toxic impurities as that's a lot of work. And addicts will risk this type of horrible shit happening to them for a high.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 1) by ConceptJunkie on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:15PM
Again, don't underestimate greed. Not every drug dealer is an ignorant street thug.
For a good documentary on this, see "Angels' Revenge", also known as "Angels' Brigade":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078778/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 [imdb.com]
(Score: 4, Touché) by captain normal on Tuesday May 26 2015, @03:09PM
"I think the real story here is that they freaking *engineered* a living thing to shit exactly what they want/need "....
Now wouldn't it be nice if they "engineered" a wildflower that grows in just about any dirt and could make a sap that could easily be refined into morphine.
Oh...wait..
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:57AM
I was under the impression that we'd been engineering microbes for such purposes for years.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:08AM
Ain't this the first major result?
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @05:12PM
I believe insulin holds that crown.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Wednesday May 27 2015, @07:25PM
References? From what I remember, they were extracting insuline from pigs. At least when I last checked.
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:53PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin#Synthesis_2 [wikipedia.org]
The first genetically engineered, synthetic "human" insulin was produced using E. coli in 1978 by Arthur Riggs and Keiichi Itakura at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in collaboration with Herbert Boyer at Genentech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:08PM
"brewn"?