Chapter 8
Cannabinoids: Biosynthesis
and Biotechnological Applications
Supaart Sirikantaramas and Futoshi Taura
Abstract Cannabinoids are unique terpenophenolic metabolites found only in
Cannabis sativa. The biosynthetic mechanism of these compounds had long been
ambiguous since conventional biogenetic studies using radiolabelled precursors did
not provide definitive results. On the other hand, various enzymological, molecular
biological, and omics-based studies conducted over the past two decades have
identified the majority of the enzymes and genes involved in the cannabinoid
pathway, opening the way to the biotechnological production of pharmacologically
active cannabinoids. This chapter describes the history of the biosynthetic studies,
in particular those focused on the biosynthetic enzymes, and recent topics linked to
cannabinoid-related biotechnology.
8.1 Introduction
Cannabinoids are unique secondary metabolites that include alkylresorcinol (typi-
cally olivetolic acid or olivetol) and monoterpene moieties (Fig.8.1). Numerous
cannabinoids have been isolated from fresh or dried samples ofCannabis sativa,
and their pharmacological properties have been extensively investigated (ElSohly
S. Sirikantaramas
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University,
254 Phyathai Road, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
S. Sirikantaramas (&)
Omic Sciences and Bioinformatics Center, Chulalongkorn University,
254 Phyathai Road, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
e-mail: [email protected]
F. Taura (&)
Laboratory of Medicinal Bio-Resources, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical
Sciences for Research, University of Toyama, Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
e-mail: [email protected]
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
S. Chandra et al. (eds.), Cannabis sativaL. - Botany and Biotechnology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54564-6_8
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