ENHANCED CANNABIS PLANTS AND METHODS OF MAKING AND USING THE SAME
Disclosed herein is a plant of the genus cannabis that does not require flowering in order to produce trichomes comprising secondary compounds. Provided herein is a plant of the genus cannabis that has trichomes on non-flowering parts of the plant, such as leaves. The disclosed plants have a high mass % of secondary compounds and a high degree of trichome coverage on the surface of the plant. Also disclosed herein are methods of producing secondary compounds from a plant of genus cannabis without flowering the plant of genus cannabis . For example, the disclosed methods provide for inducing trichome development on a plant of genus cannabis without flowering the plant of genus cannabis.
1 . A plant of genus cannabis , having a surface area and comprising trichomes on non-flowering parts of the plant.
2 . The plant of claim 1 comprising trichomes on 25-100% of the surface area of plant.
3 . The plant of claim 2 , comprising trichomes on 50-100% of the surface area of plant.
4 . The plant of claim 2 , comprising trichomes on 70-100% of the surface area of plant.
5 . The plant of claim 1 , comprising 20-80 mass % secondary compounds.
6 . The plant of claim 5 , comprising 30-70 mass % secondary compounds.
7 . The plant of claim 5 , comprising 40-65 mass % secondary compounds.
8 . The plant of claim 5 , comprising 30-60 mass % secondary compounds.
9 . A plant of the genus cannabis comprising cDNA fragments corresponding to trichome induction in a plant not of genus cannabis.
10 . The plant of claim 9 , wherein the plant not of the genus cannabis is a plant of genus Arabidopsis.
11 . A method of producing secondary compounds comprising inducing trichome development in a plant of the genus cannabis.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein said secondary compounds are chosen from cannabinoids or terpenes.
13 . The method of claim 11 , comprising harvesting at least one cannabinoid or at least one terpene during the vegetative growth cycle of the plant of the genus cannabis.
14 . The method of claim 11 , comprising modifying genetic material of the plant of the genus cannabis.
15 . The method of claim 11 , comprising introducing non-native DNA to the plant of the genus cannabis.
16 . The method of claim 11 , comprising introducing additional copies DNA native to the plant of the genus cannabis.
17 . The method of claim 14 , comprising overexpressing at least one trichome induction gene.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least one trichome induction gene is chosen from the bHLH, WD40 repeat protein, R2R3-MYB, or R3-MYB families.
19 . The method of claim 14 , comprising infecting cells of the plant of genus cannabis with a transformed bacterium.
20 . The method of claim 19 , comprising infecting cells of the plant of genus cannabis with a transformed bacterium via syringe infiltration.
21 . The method of claim 19 , comprising infecting cells of the plant of genus cannabis with a transformed bacterium via vacuum infiltration.
22 . The method of claim 14 , comprising treating cells of the plant of genus cannabis with DNA attached to a metal particle via biolistic particle delivery.
23 . The method of claim 14 , comprising:
repressing post-transcriptional processing of a transcriptional repressor of trichome induction; and
repressing expression of a target gene as functional protein.
24 . The method of claim 23 , comprising:
expressing an RNA interference molecule corresponding to a trichome induction repression gene; and
reducing translation of mRNA trichome induction repression genes into functional protein.
25 . The method of claim 23 , comprising modifying expression of GLABROUS INFLORESENCE STEMS (GIS); GLABROUS INFLORESENCE STEMS 2 (G152); GLABORUS INFLORESCENCE STEMS 3 (GIS3)COTYLEDON TRICHOME 1 (COT1), MYB5, ARPC5, MYB106, FZR2, HOMEODOMAIN GLABROUS 12(HDG12), BRANCHLESS TRICHOMES (BTL), HOMEODOMAIN GLABROUS 11 (HDG11), STICHEL (STI), IRREGULAR TRICHOME BRANCH1 (ITB1), KAKTUS (KAK), MYOSIN XI K, ATXIK, DYNAMIN-RELATED PROTEIN (DRP1A), ATRLCK VI_A3, ZWICHEL, FRC1, FRC3, FRC4, ITB2, ITB3, ITB4, RASTIFARI (RFI), STA, SUZ1, SUZ2, SUZ3, ZINC FINGER PROTEIN 5, ZINC FINGRE PROTEIN 6, ZINC FINGER PROTEIN 8, GL2-EXPRESSION MODULATOR (GEM), HARLEQUIN (HQL), TRANSPARENT TESTA 8 (TT8) in a plant of genus cannabis.
26 . The method of claim 23 , comprising modifying expression of a gene chosen from the R2R3-MYB, bHLH, WD40 repeat protein, or R3-MYB gene families.
27 . The method of claim 11 , comprising physically altering the DNA of the plant of genus cannabis.