Morphinefree Mutant Poppies: Novel plants make pharmaceutical starter

A Tasmanian company has developed a poppy that produces a commercially useful drug precursor instead of full-fledged morphine, and an international research team has now reported how the plant does it.

HIGH-LOW. The seed capsule of a natural morphine-producing poppy (left) oozes sap that’s whiter than the latex of the morphinefree poppy mutant (right).