Mostafaei Dehnavi Mahboubeh, Ebadi Ali, Peirovi Afshin, Taylor Gail, Salami Seyed Alireza
Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Science, University of Tehran, Karaj 31587-77871, Iran.
CIAN Diagnostics, 5330 Spectrum Drive, Suite I, Frederick, MD 21703, USA.
Plants (Basel). 2022 Jan 4;11(1):129. doi: 10.3390/plants11010129.
Cannabis ( L.) has a rich history of human use, and the therapeutic importance of compounds produced by this species is recognized by the medical community. The active constituents of cannabis, collectively called cannabinoids, encompass hundreds of distinct molecules, the most well-characterized of which are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), which have been used for centuries as recreational drugs and medicinal agents. As a first step to establish a cannabis breeding program, we initiated this study to describe the HPLC-measured quantity of THC and CBD biochemistry profiles of 161 feral pistillate cannabis plants from 20 geographical regions of Iran. Our data showed that Iran can be considered a new region of high potential for distribution of cannabis landraces with diverse THC and CBD content, predominantly falling into three groups, as Type I = THC-predominant, Type II = approximately equal proportions of THC and CBD (both CBD and THC in a ratio close to the unity), and Type III = CBD-predominant. Correlation analysis among two target cannabinoids and environmental and geographical variables indicated that both THC and CBD contents were strongly influenced by several environmental-geographical factors, such that THC and CBD contents were positively correlated with mean, min and max annual temperature and negatively correlated with latitude, elevation, and humidity. Additionally, a negative correlation was observed between THC and CBD concentrations, suggesting that further studies to unravel these genotype × environment interactions (G × E interactions) are warranted. The results of this study provide important pre-breeding information on a collection of cannabis that will underpin future breeding programs.
大麻（Cannabis (L.)）有着悠久的人类使用历史，该物种所产生化合物的治疗重要性已得到医学界的认可。大麻的活性成分统称为大麻素，包含数百种不同的分子，其中最具特征的是四氢大麻酚（THC）和大麻二酚（CBD），它们作为娱乐性药物和药剂已被使用了几个世纪。作为建立大麻育种计划的第一步，我们开展了这项研究，以描述来自伊朗20个地理区域的161株野生雌株大麻植物中通过高效液相色谱法测定的THC和CBD生化谱。我们的数据表明，伊朗可被视为一个新的具有高潜力的地区，用于分布具有不同THC和CBD含量的大麻地方品种，主要分为三组，即I型 = 以THC为主，II型 = THC和CBD比例大致相等（CBD和THC的比例接近1），III型 = 以CBD为主。对两种目标大麻素与环境和地理变量之间的相关性分析表明，THC和CBD含量均受到几个环境 - 地理因素的强烈影响，因此THC和CBD含量与年平均温度、最低温度和最高温度呈正相关，与纬度、海拔和湿度呈负相关。此外，还观察到THC和CBD浓度之间存在负相关，这表明有必要进一步开展研究以揭示这些基因型×环境相互作用（G×E相互作用）。本研究结果为一批大麻提供了重要的育种前信息，这将为未来的育种计划奠定基础。
