Good news for drug rehabilitation programs everywhere: we may be one step closer to reining in the devastating affects of heroin abuse. Scientists at the University of Calgary have classified a gene that encrypts the enzyme that typifies how morphine is formed - or, in other words, how poppies and narcotics derived from it eradicate pain and get you high.
In findings published in Nature Chemical Biology, Ph.D. student Scott Farrow, who worked on the study along with head scientist Peter Facchini and research associate Jill Hagel, posited that the isolated gene is the descendant of two genes that merged together, and is, in fact, the missing link to the biosynthesis of morphine.
"The gene we've isolated actually consists of a natural fusion between two ancestral genes, which encodes the gateway enzyme in the formation of morphine," Farrow stated in a press release issued by EurekAlert. "It's really interesting to see these fused genes in a metabolic pathway. It provides us with a new tool to search for something missing in other plants as well."
Utilizing data collected over the course of 23 years, the team at UCalgary hopes that its discovery will yield to re-tooling the pathways within the morphine compound, essentially designing alternate modes of production that will make narcotics like heroin, morphine, oxycodone, and more less addictive.
Despite this optimistic discovery, there is still a long way to go until the proposed endgame is reached. "It's satisfying to know that my research has the potential to help people. But finding the last known step is really just the beginning of a new pathway of inquiry," says Facchini.
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