Home | My Profile | Contact Us
Research Trends Products  |   order gateway  |   author gateway  |   editor gateway  
ID:
Password:
Register | Forgot Password

Author Resources
 Author Gateway
 Article submission guidelines

Editor Resources
 Editor/Referee Gateway

Agents/Distributors
 Regional Subscription Agents/Distributors
 
Current Topics in Phytochemistry   Volumes    Volume 2 
Abstract
Biosynthesis of cannabinoids in Cannabis sativa L.
Satoshi Morimoto, Futoshi Taura, Yukihiro Shoyama
Pages: 103 - 113
Number of pages: 11
Current Topics in Phytochemistry
Volume 2 

Copyright © 1999 Research Trends. All rights reserved

ABSTRACT
 
Cannabis sativa contains a variety of unique secondary metabolites, called cannabinoid. Among them, tetrahydrocannabinol has been well known to be the psychoactive principle of this plant, while cannabidiol and cannabichromene, which do not exert psychotropic effects, possess interesting pharmacological activities. Thus, cannabinoids have attracted considerable attention, whereas the biosynthesis of these cannabinoids has remained mostly unclear. To reveal the mechanism of cannabinoid biosynthesis, their biosynthetic enzymes were investigated. Consequently, we identified three cannabinoid synthases (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, cannabidiolic acid synthase and cannabichromenic acid synthase) that catalyze the oxidocyclization of cannabigerolic acid to tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, cannabidiolic acid and cannabichromenic acid, and subsequently purified them to homogeneity. These cannabinoid synthases are the first enzymes involved in cannabinoid biosynthesis to be purified and identified. All cannabinoid synthases catalyze oxidocyclization of cannabigerolic acid without any cofactors and coenzymes and display higher enzyme activity for cannabigerolic acid than for its Z-isomer cannabinerolic acid. These results indicate that tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, cannabidiolic acid and cannabichromenic acid are predominantly biosynthesized from cannabigerolic acid.
Buy this Article


 
search


E-Commerce
Buy this article
Buy this volume
Subscribe to this title
Shopping Cart

Quick Links
Login
Search Products
Browse in Alphabetical Order : Journals
Series/Books
Browse by Subject Classification : Journals
Series/Books

Miscellaneous
Ordering Information Ordering Information
Downloadable forms Downloadable Forms