Cannabis labelling is associated with genetic variation in terpene synthase genes

• Published in: Nature plants Vol. 7; no. 10; pp. 1330 - 1334
• Main Authors: Watts, Sophie, McElroy, Michel, Migicovsky, Zoë, Maassen, Hugo, van Velzen, Robin, Myles, Sean
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-10-2021; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 45; 45/43; 631/208/212; 631/449/1870; 82/58; Alkyl and Aryl Transferases - genetics; Alkyl and Aryl Transferases - metabolism; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brief Communication; Cannabinoids; Cannabinoids - metabolism; Cannabis; Cannabis - enzymology; Cannabis - genetics; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Genes; Genetic analysis; Genetic diversity; Genetic variance; Genomes; Genotype; Genotyping; Labeling; Life Sciences; Marijuana; Nucleotides; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plant Sciences; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Terpene synthase; Terpenes; Terpenes - metabolism
• ISSN: 2055-0278; 2055-0278
• DOI: 10.1038/s41477-021-01003-y

Analysis of over 100
Cannabis
samples quantified for terpene and cannabinoid content and genotyped for over 100,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms indicated that Sativa- and Indica-labelled samples were genetically indistinct on a genome-wide scale. Instead, we found that
Cannabis
labelling was associated with variation in a small number of terpenes whose concentrations are controlled by genetic variation at tandem arrays of terpene synthase genes.
By quantifying over 100
Cannabis
samples for terpene and cannabinoid content and genotyping them for over 100,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms, this study finds that
Cannabis
labelling is associated with genetic variants in terpene synthase genes.