Analgesia: morphine-pathway block in top1 poppies.
The opium poppy is a source of the pharmaceuticals codeine, morphine and their derived analgesics. Here we describe the initial characterization of the poppy mutant known as top1 (for 'thebaine oripavine poppy 1'), which accumulates the morphine and codeine precursors thebaine and oripavine and does not complete their biosynthesis into morphine and codeine. The original discovery of top1 stimulated a re-engineering of the opioid industry in the island state of Tasmania, which grows over 40% of the world's licit opiates, in order to produce thebaine and oripavine efficiently from morphine-free poppy crops to provide precursors for highly effective analgesics and for treatment of opioid addiction.
Millgate
Anthony G
AG
CSIRO Plant Industry, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
Pogson
Barry J
BJ
Wilson
Iain W
IW
Kutchan
Toni M
TM
Zenk
Meinhart H
MH
Gerlach
Wayne L
WL
Fist
Anthony J
AJ
Larkin
Philip J
PJ
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D009020:Morphine / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010207:Papaver / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D013797:Thebaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D013797:Thebaine; C005283:oripavine; D009020:Morphine