Pubdate: Sun, 09 Feb 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Aguilar, Daily Camera

CANNABIS QUEST

CU Research Initiative Hopes to Unlock Plant's Potential

Boulder - Among a vast collection of seeds housed in a nondescript 
industrial building on the outskirts of Lafayette resides what could 
be the key to the deepest and most detailed understanding yet of 
cannabis-information that may unleash nearly limitless potential for 
a plant that spans the worlds of medicine, textiles, food, fuel and fun.

Select DNA samples from that collection, representing a range of 
cannabis types from all over the world, will make their way to a lab 
at the University of Colorado to be analyzed, sequenced and mapped at 
a level never before attempted.

It's called the Cannabis Genomic Research Initiative, and it's being 
led by 37-year-old Nolan Kane, an assistant professor with CU's 
department of ecology and evolutionary biology. The 18-month 
initiative, based largely if not entirely in Boulder County, should 
provide hemp farmers and marijuana growers worldwide with a genomic 
blueprint allowing them to breed high value specimens far more 
efficiently than they can now.

"It's an interesting and unique genus that is really understudied," 
said Kane, sitting in his office in the Ramaley biology building at 
CU last week. "Colorado is one of the best places to do this because 
we have the industry here and we have a lot of expertise. And it's 
easier to do the research because we have dealt with many of the legal issues."

Until Colorado voters legalized pot consumption by adults and hemp 
growing for industrial purposes in 2012, the legal cloud hanging over 
the plant deterred scientists from undertaking extensive research 
with it, Kane said.

But just last week, President Barack Obama signed into law a nearly 
$1 trillion farm bill containing a stipulation, pushed by U.S. Rep. 
Jared Polis, that allows universities in the nine states that permit 
industrial hemp cultivation to conduct research into the plant 
without jeopardizing their federal funding.

Although Kane's cannabis initiative will encompass plant types that 
don't fall under the federal exemption, he said acknowledgment from 
Washington, D.C., that good can come from research like his is gratifying.

"Being able to work on those industrial and medicinal strains without 
restriction will be very helpful," he said.

Ben Holmes, owner of Lafayette based Centennial Seeds, will be 
growing from his collection of 300 seed lines the cannabis plants 
that underpin Kane's efforts. The first seeds went into the ground last week.

Given the legal and creative climate that has developed around the 
plant in Colorado, Holmes said, Boulder County is the perfect place 
to launch an ambitious project like this.

"Everything comes together - the legality, some guy with a seed 
collection and a world-class genomics professor happening to land at 
CU," he said.

Kane came to CU's department of ecology and evolutionary biology in 
August from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he 
did research into the genetic structure of sunflowers, chocolate and 
mustard. But he said it took a post-doc student in his lab at CU to 
convince him that the next great specimen to unmask genetically is cannabis.

Daniela Vergara said she got the idea for mapping the plant while 
working on her doctoral thesis at Indiana University. She thought 
what was being examined in terms of the genetics of sunflower strains 
could as easily apply to cannabis. "I thought that these questions 
were cool to ask in cannabis," Vergara said. "There was nothing that 
had been done."

Heather Despres, lab director with CannLabs in Denver, said that kind 
of analysis will help forge a better understanding of the plant's 
active ingredients - the cannabinoids - which are responsible for 
providing marijuana's medicinal benefits and recreational high. 
CannLabs, which offers a wide array of testing services for cannabis, 
will provide analysis for the initiative.

"What Nolan is trying to do is figure out what all those chunks 
mean," Despres said. "It's a giant, million-piece puzzle, and all the 
pieces are microscopic. They're going to start putting the pieces 
together, and from that data, you can start creating custom plants 
that produce more medicine or other traits that are desirable."

Simply, Holmes said, the initiative will be accelerating and 
perfecting the art of selective breeding, a practice that has been 
around for centuries.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom