Engineered bacteria could transform cannabis medicine production

Scientists have discovered how marine bacterial enzymes can produce cannabichromenic acid (CBCA), a lesser-known cannabinoid found in cannabis. Two enzymes called Clz9 and Tcz9 work in a fundamentally different way than the enzymes naturally found in cannabis plants themselves. By analyzing the three-dimensional crystal structures of these enzymes and studying their chemical behavior, researchers revealed that each bacterial enzyme uses its own unique biological mechanism to transform the precursor compound cannabigerolic acid into CBCA—insights that were previously unknown.

The research team also engineered improvements to these enzymes that enhanced their ability to produce specifically the right-handed or left-handed versions of CBCA with greater precision. This level of control is crucial because the different molecular "handedness" of these compounds (called stereoisomers) could potentially have different effects and applications. The findings position Clz9 and Tcz9 as promising tools for biocatalytic cannabinoid production—essentially using engineered microbes to manufacture cannabinoids in laboratories instead of relying on traditional cannabis cultivation.

These discoveries have significant implications for the future of cannabinoid medicine and research. By understanding how different enzymes can produce cannabinoids through alternative biochemical pathways, scientists can potentially synthesize rare or minor cannabinoids like CBCA more efficiently and cost-effectively. This could accelerate the study of cannabinoids that are difficult to obtain from plants, ultimately enabling researchers to explore therapeutic properties of compounds that have been largely overlooked due to their scarcity in nature.