Tag: KeyGene

  • 22nd Century has Cannabis Research Breakthrough

    22nd Century has Cannabis Research Breakthrough

    Photo: Elroi

    22nd Century Group and KeyGene say they have made a breakthrough in hemp/cannabis plant research leading to the successful transformation of the hemp/cannabis plant genome using a proprietary plant transformation and regeneration technology and clear protein expression by the introduced genes.

    “I cannot emphasize enough what an enormous achievement it is for our company to have cracked the code to show proof of genome transformation in the hemp/cannabis plant. This is the holy grail in plant science and places us in a commanding leadership position in the race to secure patents and other valuable intellectual property in the emerging hemp/cannabis genetics field,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.

    “These newest plant transformation discoveries unlock additional revenue opportunities for the company and accelerate our efforts to create new hemp/cannabis plant lines with much higher commercial value at accelerated rates, lower cost and lower risk to our customers.”

    The plant transformation breakthrough unlocked by 22nd Century and KeyGene enables the desired DNA sequences to be inserted directly into or created from a plant’s existing genetic material, creating a more expedient and focused methodology to achieve the desired outcome.

    In addition to its transformation capability, 22nd Century Group has exclusive access to a battery of gene-editing capabilities, based on meganuclease technology, directed to seven of the key enzymes for the biosynthesis of cannabinoids plus four patent families that cover vital enzymes. Unlike other more widely available gene-editing technologies like CRISPR-CAS-9, this technology is allowed for use in cannabis.

    The breakthrough gene-editing and transformation technology will allow 22nd Century Group to target specific hemp/cannabis biosynthesis pathways and expand the ability to engineer the modification of cannabinoids in plants.

  • 22nd Century and KeyGene Launch Cannabis Platform

    22nd Century and KeyGene Launch Cannabis Platform

    Photo: surfwiz17 | Pixabay

    22nd Century Group has developed and launched a technology platform that will enable the company and its strategic partners to quickly identify and incorporate commercially valuable traits of hemp/cannabis plants to create new, stable hemp/cannabis lines. The platform incorporates a suite of proprietary molecular tools and a large library of genomic markers and gene-trait correlations. The platform was developed in collaboration with researchers at KeyGene, a global leader in plant research involving high-value genetic traits and increased crop yields.

    “This is a major breakthrough. Quickly and easily identifying the genes responsible for specific traits in a plant is a powerful tool for 22nd Century Group and the hemp/cannabis industry as a whole,” said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.

    “That is why we are even now beginning discussions to license this platform to strategic partners to help them improve their plant breeding techniques and to optimize their hemp/cannabis cultivars. We continue to make great advancements through our partnership with KeyGene, and this newly developed molecular breeding platform has the potential to result in exponential growth for the company’s revenues and create new value opportunities for our stakeholders, including shareholders.”

    “Using traditional breeding techniques, it typically takes at least eight to 10 years to develop new varieties of hemp/cannabis plants that consistently express important traits,” said Juan Sanchez Tamburrino, vice president of research and development at 22nd Century Group.

    “Our new molecular breeding platform can dramatically reduce our development time for new high-value varieties of hemp/cannabis and allows 22nd Century scientists to identify plant lines that carry high levels of major therapeutic cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol, cannabichromene, and other minor therapeutic cannabinoids, like cannabidivarin and tetrahydrocannabivarin.”

    Demonstrating how this technology can be used, 22nd Century and KeyGene scientists can now accelerate the selection of specific traits yielding novel cannabinoid profiles. For example, the team was able to select specific markers that predict the gender of hemp/cannabis plants with 99.6 percent accuracy.