Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) produces a diverse array of bioactive benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, including the narcotic analgesic morphine and the antimicrobial agent sanguinarine. In contrast to the plant, cell cultures of opium poppy do not accumulate alkaloids constitutively but produce sanguinarine in response to treatment with certain fungal-derived elicitors. The induction of sanguina...

Afghanistan is responsible for the majority of the world’s supply of poppy crops, which are often used to produce illegal narcotics like heroin. This paper presents an agent-based model that simulates policy scenarios to characterize how the production of poppy can be dampened and replaced with licit crops over time. The model is initialized with spatial data, including transportation network a...

Nine poppy-head addicts were seen at a Birmingham hospital. Seven were Sikhs born in Jullundur and two were West Pakistanis. Most began their poppy-head addiction in their early 20s, usually out of curiosity or to relieve the hangover effects of alcohol. Only two took opium in addition and one of these had taken cannabis, morphine, and heroin. They all drank several pints of beer a day and were...

examining the floral wreath on the mummy of the Princess Ugi-Khouni, of the twenty-first Egyptian dynasty, discovered, says Nature, at Deriel-Behan, the folded leaves of a willow (Salix Sa/so/j), perfect flowers of the corn-poppy, flower-heads of Ccntvurea deprcssa, and of Picris coronopi/olia. The flowers of the corn-poppy appear to have been gathered in an unopened condition to prevent the pe...

There are several different DNA analysis procedures that have been used to identify and characterize plant Amplified restriction fragment length polymorphic (AFLP) DNA cultivars to determine genetic diversity. Each procedure analysis was performed on leaf samples of 40 accessions of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) and two other control genera (Pahas it own requirements, sensitivity, and rel...

I am old enough to have taken part in the international project to sequence the first eukaryotic genome—that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae—which was released in 1996. Twenty years later, scientists from academic and commercial institutions are now involved in the first wholesale construction of a eukaryotic genome: the Yeast 2.0 Project [1]. The construction of whole genomes from scratch is defin...

Tasmania is the world’s largest producer of opium alkaloids for the pharmaceutical market. The area sown to poppies is close to 20,000 ha, and the industry is one of the larger employers in the State. The application of science and technology has been critical to the development of the poppy industry. High yielding varieties and efficient production methods allow the Tasmanian industry to compe...

Noscapine is a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid produced in opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and other members of the Papaveraceae. It has been used as a cough suppressant and more recently was shown to possess anticancer activity. However, the biosynthesis of noscapine in opium poppy has not been established. A proposed pathway leading from (S)-reticuline to noscapine includes (S)scoulerine, (S)-ca...