Research
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Why Good Plants Go Bad
 Growing plants in a laboratory is second nature to most botanists— a little water, a little light and a green thumb for good measure. But when the plant being studied is considered a controlled substance by the federal government, the challenges get a little more, well, challenging.
Before she arrived at Sac State, biological sciences professor Shannon Datwyler did just that, studying the DNA of marijuana and hemp plants to see what genes make Cannabis satvia a narcotic.
Hemp supporters call it an environmentally friendly, economical alternative to other fibers. But, Datwyler says, “Hemp is currently classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic. We were looking for a variety that could be grown without DEA controls.
“We wanted to map the genome for specific traits where the fiber hemp varies from the drug strains of marijuana, looking for enough genetic variation among plants to isolate the difference.”
But to do so, the researchers had to institute some unusual measures, including registering plants with the Drug Enforcement Agency and keeping them behind double-locked doors. And because the plants had to be segregated in their own space, Datwyler and colleagues had to institute hydroponic growing conditions— going soil-less under fluorescent lights—much as illegal growers would.
Though hemp has been around for 10,000 years, no one is quite sure where it originally derived or how it produces the psychoactive substance THC, Datwyler says. The current hypothesis is that a major, non-psychoactive ingredient in Cannabis satvia—cannabidiol—is modi- fied into THC by turning on a single gene.
Datwyler says what they learned about the DNA of marijuana may also be useful to law enforcement officials in tracking the origin of specific batches of the drug. “It could be helpful in developing a genetic database for marijuana seizures in the U.S. to trace drug seizures back to a common source.”
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