MJBizMag March 2023 - 39

Oussama Badadʼs
lab at Southern
Illinois University
is set up for
tissue culture.
Courtesy Photo
Knockout Strategy
Agricultural scientists have been modifying
the genes of plants for decades with the intent
of improving food production. Some of their
achievements include greater crop yields and
seedless produce.
Those technologies are now being used in the
cannabis industry, as scientists employ tools such as
DNA sequencing and gene editing to create better
cannabis: plants that are disease- or pest-resistant
produce greater yields or exhibit an abundance of
certain terpenes.
Some of the most cutting-edge work is being done
at Southern Illinois University, home to the 4-year-old
Cannabis Science Center where more than 20 faculty
members plus other researchers are conducting
agricultural, biomedical and analytical research on
the plant.
One of those researchers is Oussama Badad, a
Fulbright scholar from Morocco who is using gene
editing to produce plants resistant to powdery
mildew.
He is also the lead geneticist for Trilogene Seeds,
a Colorado-based business that produces feminized
hempseeds. And in 2021, Badad launched his own
company, Growmics, which sells research tools and
services to plant scientists.
At SIU, Badad and his team found a gene that
" recognizes " powdery mildew, enabling the disease
to bond to cannabis plants.
" When cannabis plants don't
have that gene, they don't
recognize powdery mildew,
so it won't bond to the plant, "
Badad explained.
GENE EDITING
Badad is now using gene-editing
technology such as CRISPR and
RNA interference to " knock out " the gene responsible
for powdery mildew using plant tissue material.
The first step is using gene-editing technology
to knock out the guilty gene. The second step is
to generate plant material that no longer has a
mildew-recognizing gene. Badad said the university
Oussama Badad
researchers are on the regeneration step.
" We're very close, " Badad told MJBizMagazine,
noting that he hopes to have the first clones of these
plants developed this year for testing. If the plants
prove to be resistant to powdery mildew while
maintaining positive qualities such as potency, smell
and yield, they could be commercially available
sometime in 2024, Badad said.
Badad is working on other cannabis projects,
including one to knock out the gene that produces
THC in hemp. If successful, this would eliminate
farmers' worry about " hot " hemp plants whose THC
content is above the federal limit of 0.3%.
- Omar Sacirbey
mjbizdaily.com | March 2023 39

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MJBizMag March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag March 2023

MJBizMag March 2023 - 1
MJBizMag March 2023 - 2
MJBizMag March 2023 - 3
MJBizMag March 2023 - 4
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