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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: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 26 2015, @07:49PM
Although the meta argument stands that the very disagreement over the endless small details of brewing does fit the larger argument that its not likely to be trivial, unlikely someone could set out to brew a nice dry wine and accidentally end up with a barrel of morphine.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2015, @04:03AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast#Wine [wikipedia.org]
I guess it's an open question whether wild yeast brewers would eventually become unable to make morphine free wild beers/etc. but there are already many things that can spoil it.
The most alcohol-resistant yeasts top out at 22% alcohol concentration. If yeast isn't affected by morphine, that could say something about morphine brewing yeast's ability to adapt and proliferate.
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