For those who want a stronger brew...

[KeninMN]

...scientists have now engineered brew's yeast to synthesize opiates.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/18/science-opioids-yeast-idINKBN0O31VX20150518

Home-brewing could soon take on a more dangerous twist: Scientists have engineered brewer's yeast to synthesize opioids such as codeine and morphine from a common sugar, an international team reported on Monday.

"It is going to be possible to 'home-brew' opiates in the near future," Christopher Voight of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the research, told reporters.

The process described in Nature Chemical Biology is inefficient, requiring 300 liters of genetically engineered yeast to produce a single 30 milligram dose of morphine.

But with improvements that are well within reach, that dose could be obtained from "a glass of yeast culture grown with sugar on a windowsill," Voight said.

Discuss...

 

[LandoLincoln]

How about we don't.

 

[chuckthebutcher]

that's alot of yeast...

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

...scientists have now engineered brew's yeast to synthesize opiates.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/18/science-opioids-yeast-idINKBN0O31VX20150518



Discuss...

I'll pass.

 

[ArcLight]

It's a shame because it will give Home Brewing a bad name.

Buuut ...

>>requiring 300 liters of genetically engineered yeast to produce a single 30 milligram dose of morphine.

How much grain do you need to collect 300 liters of yeast?
Do you get 2 liters from 5 gallons (10 pounds)?
Lets call it 4 liters per 10 pounds of grain.

That's 750 pounds of grain, or maybe less if you use sugar, assuming sugar produces the substance you want. 15 bags @ @40 per bag = $600

Plus the fuel, and time spent grinding, and cleaning, and moving stuff around.

And the street price is what? $30? 20$? $10$?

Is that really worth it? Even if they make it 10 times more efficient.

 

[KeninMN]

I was more interesting in the science behind how they accomplished this...

 

[joshesmusica]

I was more interesting in the science behind how they accomplished this...

seems like by that sentence alone you were more interesting in the good stuff the science produced...

 

[Pyg]

It's a shame because it will give Home Brewing a bad name.

Buuut ...

>>requiring 300 liters of genetically engineered yeast to produce a single 30 milligram dose of morphine.

How much grain do you need to collect 300 liters of yeast?
Do you get 2 liters from 5 gallons (10 pounds)?
Lets call it 4 liters per 10 pounds of grain.

That's 750 pounds of grain, or maybe less if you use sugar, assuming sugar produces the substance you want. 15 bags @ @40 per bag = $600

Plus the fuel, and time spent grinding, and cleaning, and moving stuff around.

And the street price is what? $30? 20$? $10$?

Is that really worth it? Even if they make it 10 times more efficient.

"Scientists, however, recently reported engineering yeast to carry out the second part of the 15-step opioid-producing reaction. What remained was just the hurdle of coaxing yeast to carry out the first part."

15 steps is just way too many steps....just saying....way too many steps for the result.
Atleast beer you can drink while making it and still make a decent brew.
Try going through 15 steps when you have the shakes!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Try going through 15 steps when you have the shakes!

I think, for that, it's only 12 steps.

 

[invictusbrew]

Imagine if it took that much time, effort and money to make a batch of homebrew? I would have never been able to get the "it's cheaper than buying commercial beer" thing by my wife....

 

[roastquake]

I'm not sure why they think this whole process would be more attractive to people who want to make drugs than simply growing poppies and harvesting opium the traditional way

 

[Qhrumphf]

If I wanted smack, I could drive to Baltimore, and get it for a lot less time and a lot less effort.

The science is fascinating. They've already genetically altered yeast and bacteria to produce all sorts of different things (it's how a lot of medicinal compounds such as insulin, and other chemicals are synthetically produced if I understand correctly). Assuming the right food sources are present, the instead of giving off CO2 and ethanol, the yeast give off morphine plus whatever other byproducts.

From what I read, the chemistry is too complicated and the scale too impractical for someone to do this at home. The alarms are overblown. Which brings me back to, if I wanted smack, I could drive up to Baltimore and get it easier, faster, and cheaper.

Or, go the Russian way, and mix gasoline and codeine (or whatever it is) and make Krokodil (desomorphone). Which is downright nightmarish. When I first saw the "make heroin at home" alarmist headlines, Krokodil was my first thought.

Also, in before the lock.

 

[shortyz]

why dont they genetically modify some yeast to cure the effects of drinking alchohol.

 

[Pyg]

why dont they genetically modify some yeast to cure the effects of drinking alchohol.

Wow- lets slow down with the crazy talk.
Some of us like the effects,
Otherwise we would just drink tea!

 

[Homercidal]

"Hey, neighbor! Whatcha doing, makin' meth?"

"Nope, Morphine! It's actually a much more complicated process. There's an art to it."

 

[joshesmusica]

Wow- lets slow down with the crazy talk.
Some of us like the effects,
Otherwise we would just drink tea!

unless of course he means the effects on the morning after?

 

[Pyg]

unless of course he means the effects on the morning after?

They have pills for the morning after. My wife has a bottle of them, I just borrow hers!

 

[Owly055]

They already have a variety of alfalfa that's modified to produce THC.... the active ingredient in marijuana. Can you see the day when home brewers will be required to send samples of their brews to the DEA for opioid testing, and farmers will have their hay tested for THC? We are living in a brave new world of insanity!! A friend of mine just planted 160 acres of "roundup ready" alfalfa.......... genetic engineering has some scary potential. It will ultimately spill over into humans...... Imagine your destiny determined before birth...... scientist, athlete, whore, president, soldier, farm worker, factory worker, waitress, chef....


H.W.

 

[KeninMN]

They already have a variety of alfalfa that's modified to produce THC.... the active ingredient in marijuana. Can you see the day when home brewers will be required to send samples of their brews to the DEA for opioid testing, and farmers will have their hay tested for THC? We are living in a brave new world of insanity!! A friend of mine just planted 160 acres of "roundup ready" alfalfa.......... genetic engineering has some scary potential. It will ultimately spill over into humans...... Imagine your destiny determined before birth...... scientist, athlete, whore, president, soldier, farm worker, factory worker, waitress, chef....


H.W.

Yes, but there's always a John the Savage to call the Deltas to rebellion and challenge the system...

 

[ACbrewer]

I'm not sure why they think this whole process would be more attractive to people who want to make drugs than simply growing poppies and harvesting opium the traditional way

It becomes a business thing revolving around cost, and availability of poppies. Most hard narcotics like morphine that come from poppies use poppies grown in places like Afganistan even if it is a company like Bayer or Merrek making the morphine in the US or Europe.

If they could grown the basic materials here in a lab, then they'd no longer need to buy and ship the poppies from central Asia. They did this some years ago I think with insulin which used to be grown in pig pancreases and found a way of growing it in 'bacteria' (note I'm being generic with that name for single cell organism, it could be another yeast).

I'm not sure that the local homebrewer would benefit from this process.

 

[normonster]

So, how was my beer?

Tasted horrible but I'd really like some more.