Trait Biosciences has been granted a patent (US Pat. 10,724,048) for a system and method of increasing trichome formation in a cannabis plant through agrobacterium transformation -- effectively creating a GMO cannabis plant. The transformation of the cannabis plant to express a specified sequence upregulates trichome formation by as much as 30%. Trichomes are the tiny, sticky outgrowths on cannabis plants and many others and are what produce and store the cannabinoids. Therefore, a technology that increases the production of trichomes, such as Trait Bioscience’s system, will be desirable to many industries.
The transformation vector used also encodes genes for improving the production of the cannabinoids CBDA and THCA, the precursors to CBD and THC. Production of CBDA and THCA is said to increase by 3-fold and 4-fold, respectively, in the GMO cannabis plant compared to a wild type cannabis plant.
Trait Biosciences now has 2 patents and 9 patent applications spanning the ‘Cannabinoid Biosynthesis’ and ‘Cultivation-GMO’ categories in the Magic Number Cannabis Patent Forecast®. Trait Biosciences first caught everyone’s attention with their water-soluble cannabinoids patents (US Pat. 10,378,020) and now their GMO cannabis plant should cause the same buzz. Visit Magic Number’s Cannabis Patent Forecast® to learn more about IP in the cannabis sector.
