Broad-Scale Genetic Diversity of Cannabis for Forensic Applications.

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Version: Final published version
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Serval ID
serval:BIB_BB573EC719C1
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Broad-Scale Genetic Diversity of Cannabis for Forensic Applications.
Journal
PloS ONE
Author(s)
Dufresnes C., Jan C., Bienert F., Goudet J., Fumagalli L.
ISSN
1932-6203 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1932-6203
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
12
Number
1
Pages
e0170522
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: epublish
Abstract
Cannabis (hemp and marijuana) is an iconic yet controversial crop. On the one hand, it represents a growing market for pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors. On the other hand, plants synthesizing the psychoactive THC produce the most widespread illicit drug in the world. Yet, the difficulty to reliably distinguish between Cannabis varieties based on morphological or biochemical criteria impedes the development of promising industrial programs and hinders the fight against narcotrafficking. Genetics offers an appropriate alternative to characterize drug vs. non-drug Cannabis. However, forensic applications require rapid and affordable genotyping of informative and reliable molecular markers for which a broad-scale reference database, representing both intra- and inter-variety variation, is available. Here we provide such a resource for Cannabis, by genotyping 13 microsatellite loci (STRs) in 1 324 samples selected specifically for fibre (24 hemp varieties) and drug (15 marijuana varieties) production. We showed that these loci are sufficient to capture most of the genome-wide diversity patterns recently revealed by NGS data. We recovered strong genetic structure between marijuana and hemp and demonstrated that anonymous samples can be confidently assigned to either plant types. Fibres appear genetically homogeneous whereas drugs show low (often clonal) diversity within varieties, but very high genetic differentiation between them, likely resulting from breeding practices. Based on an additional test dataset including samples from 41 local police seizures, we showed that the genetic signature of marijuana cultivars could be used to trace crime scene evidence. To date, our study provides the most comprehensive genetic resource for Cannabis forensics worldwide.

Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
09/01/2017 14:33
Last modification date
06/11/2019 13:22
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