U OF C RESEARCHERS FIND ELUSIVE OPIUM GENE

Pain Reliever Discovery

University of Calgary researchers say they've pinpointed certain
elusive genes of the opium poppy, a discovery that could allow for
cheaper and more widespread painkillers.

The genes are responsible for allowing the opium poppy to produce some
of the world's most widely used pain relievers: codeine and morphine,
said U of C biological sciences professor Peter Facchini.

Enzymes encoded by the two genes have eluded scientists for at least
50 years, Facchini said.

"These are the two that are unique in opium poppy that allow it,
uniquely among plants, to make codeine and morphine," he said.

The scientist has devoted 18 years to his research on the opium poppy,
and made the genetic discovery along with Jillian Hagel, a
post-doctoral scientist in Facchini's lab.

Their findings, which were announced Sunday, will be published in a
paper appearing in the online edition of Nature Chemical Biology.

Finding the gene responsible for a trait in an organism, such as
knowing the gene for breast cancer or cystic fibrosis, is an important
first step toward solving problems or using new technology, Facchini
said.

The majority of codeine that is available pharmaceutically is produced
by taking morphine from the plant and chemically converting it back to
the codeine, he said.

With the poppy plant genetic discovery, scientists could potentially
create plants that will stop production at codeine, eliminating some
of the extra work around producing the painkiller, said Facchini.

"Being able to create a poppy variety that is blocked at codeine can
reduce production costs," he said.

Hagel used high-tech genomics techniques to sort through up to 23,000
different genes on a single slide before zeroing in on codeine
O-dementhylase (CODM), which produces the plant enzyme that converts
codeine into morphine.

Further, the gene used to block the opium poppy from making morphine
is "something that can be used industrially down the road to be able
to manipulate the plant to produce in a certain way," noted Hagel.

Facchini, who has filed a patent on the discovery, says one of the
next steps is to use the codeine gene to create pharmaceuticals in
yeast or bacteria -- bypassing the plant altogether. That research is
still in its early stages, he said.

The genetic information could have a sweeping impact.

Codeine is the most common opiate in the world. About 80 per cent of
codeine and morphine in the world is consumed by six countries,
including Canada, Facchini said. However, Canada imports all of its
opiates from countries such as France or Australia that cultivate the
opium poppy.

Canadians alone spend more than $100 million every year on
codeine-containing pharmaceutical products.

The genetic discovery could potentially lower the costs of the drug,
Facchini said, but that's true only if industry passes down the
cost-savings to consumers.