New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Nematicidal effects of hemp (Cannabis sativa) may not be mediated
by cannabinoid receptors
J. M. MCPARTLAND
Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences
UNITEC
Private Bag 92 025, Auckland
New Zealand
M. GLASS
Department of Pharmacology
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92 019, Auckland
New Zealand
Abstract Few nematodes infest the roots of hemp (
Cannabis
sativa L.) plants, and hemp plant extracts have been utilised as botanical
nematicides. The responsible constituent may be
Δ
9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ
9-THC). In humans,
Δ
9-THC exerts its effects via a family of G protein-coupled
receptors, known as cannabinoid (CB) receptors. CB receptors are
phylogenetically ancient, and occur in many vertebrates and invertebrates. We
therefore searched for evidence of CB receptors in nematodes. All nematode cDNA
sequences at GenBank, including the entire genome of
Caenorhabditis
elegans,
were screened for homologs of human CB receptors using
BLAST 2.0 as a sequence alignment search engine. We also searched for homologs
of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the enzyme in vertebrates that
metabolises the endogenous ligands of CB receptors. Several
C. elegans
gene products with low homology to CB receptors and FAAH were identified. Close
examination of these sequences revealed crippling substitutions at critical
amino acid residues. These results suggest the genes for CB receptors are
absent in
C. elegans,
and the nematicidal activities of
Δ
9-THC and
Cannabis are not mediated through CB
receptors.
Keywords nematodes; Caenorhabditis elegans;
hemp; cannabis; integrated pest management; cannabinoid receptors;
fatty acid amide hydrolase; sequence homology; amino acid
H01015
Received 18 April 2001; accepted 20 September 2001
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2001, Vol. 29:
301-307
0014-0671/01/2904-0301 $7.00 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 2001
Short communication
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (591K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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