Chayanis Sutcharitchan1, Worakorn Wiwatcharakornkul1, Somchai Keawwangchai2, Tasawan Kaewwangchai2, Sornkanok Vimolmangkang1, Suchada Sukrong1, Wanchai De-Eknamkul1
1Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
2Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham 44150, Thailand
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Thailand is known to be one of the world’s best sources of cannabis strains, and thus has a potential to be a cannabis hub in Asia. Thai strains of cannabis commonly refer to 100% sativa strains native to Southeast Asia. Each strain contains different ratios of the psychoactive substances, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), which are known to have medical benefits. Three major cannabis chemotypes (THC dominant, intermediate, and CBD dominant) and two minor ones (CBG dominant and cannabinoid-free) have been categorized for chemotaxonomic discrimination. So far, very little has been known about the chemotypes and genetic backgrounds of the diversified Thai cannabis strains and hybrids. Therefore, the techniques of HPTLC and DNA profilings were introduced to observe the relationship between their metabolic and genetic levels. Almost 100 samples of dried flowers obtained from various strains of Thai cannabis and their hybrids were collected and prepared for HPTLC and DNA analyses. The solvent system used for the HPTLC separation of cannabis extracts was modified from the previous report (1). The results showed that there was a high variation in the chemotypes among the Thai cannabis samples. For the DNA analysis, tetrahydrocannabinolic acid-synthase (THCA-synthase) and cannabidiolic acid-synthase (CBDA-synthase) genes (2,3) were used as the chemotype markers of various cannabis samples. The preliminary results obtained by PCR and DNA sequencing techniques suggested that there was a good correlation between the HPTLC chemical profiles and the presence of functional forms of THCA-synthase (drug-type) and CBDA-synthase (fiber-type). Therefore, the sequence of both genes can be used for early prediction of the cannabinoid profiled in Thai cannabis plants.
References:
[1] CAMAG Application Note A-108.1 (2017).
[2] C. Onofri, E. de Meijer, G. Mandolino, Phytochemistry 116 (2015) 57–68.
[3] A. R. Garfinkel, M. Otten, S. Crawford, Genes 12 (2021) 228. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12020228
Acknowledgements:
This work was supported by Chulalongkorn University's Natural Product Biotechnology Research Unit (for WD) and Center of Excellence in DNA Barcoding of Thai Medicinal Plants (for SS).
