Papaver somniferum
The poppy or royal poppy —among many other vernacular names— (Papaver somniferum) is a species Herbaceous plant of the genus Papaver, belonging to the Papaveraceae family. Its fame is linked to its high content of alkaloids obtained from the sap exuded through artificially made incisions in its fruit, which is the basis for the production of opium and its derivatives.
Description
It is an annual herbaceous plant, glabrous or somewhat hairy, with a height between 15 cm and 1.5 m. It has leaves, 2-30 by 0.5-20 cm, oblong-ovate, lobed or eventually pinnatisect, the lower ones with a short petiole and the upper ones seated and embracing. The flowers, pedunculated (peduncle of highly variable length: 2-40 cm), are solitary and terminal, with a nutating and erect bud during flowering, actinomorphic, with a calyx of 2 or 3 deciduous sepals at the anthesis, 4 petals, corrugated on cocoon, suborbicular, white, pink, purplish, or red, usually with a darker basal spot. The androecium is composed of numerous clavate stamens with yellow anthers, while the ovary is styleless but has 5-18 prominent radial stigmas on a flat lobed disc. The fruit, of very variable size, is a subglobose capsule, mazuda, glabrous, pruinous, unilocular but ribbed by false partitions, abruptly contracted into a carpophore. It has poricid dehiscence and the seeds released by said infradiscal pores are almost millimeters in size, black or nearly so, reiniform and reticulate alveolar.
History
Humans have cultivated the opium poppy for at least 4,000 years. The plant appears to be native to the southern and eastern Mediterranean in Europe, where it was first domesticated. Evidence of cultivation and use has been found in late Stone Age settlements in the vicinity of the Rhine, Rhone, Po and Danube rivers, at Lake Bracciano in Italy and Germany, around 5700 BC. C. Another finding regarding the opium poppy was in Spain, near Granada, in a cave called the Cueva de los Murciélagos, where capsules of this plant were found dating from the year 4200 BC. C. approximately. Of origin not fully clarified, it is currently cultivated and naturalized in Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
Uses
It is known because its semi-ripe fruits in a poricidal capsule, as well as its dry sap —sticky and white in color— have a high alkaloid content, which is why they are used to illegally manufacture opium and derivatives such as heroin.
In the pharmaceutical and medical industry, these alkaloids are also a source of active substances such as morphine and codeine, used in medicine as analgesics to relieve pain.
The seeds, like those of Papaver rhoeas, are well accepted in culinary applications due to their aroma and antioxidant properties, their vitamin B content, lipids, carbohydrates and proteins.
“Poppy cake” (“makowiec” in Polish and “makovník” in Slovak) is a typical dessert from Poland and Slovakia. In much of Europe, poppy seeds are used to decorate bakery products (loaves of bread, buns, etc.). They are also used as an additive in bird feed.
The oil obtained from the seeds finds applications in the paint industry as a drying oil, for the manufacture of soaps or as fuel.
Due to the presence of alkaloids in the plant, strong control measures have been applied to its cultivation to prevent the production of heroin, restricted to expressly authorized farmers. International agreements have been signed to eradicate illegal opium poppy cultivation worldwide, 90% of which is concentrated in only two countries: Afghanistan and Burma. The remaining 10% is concentrated in two Latin American countries, which cultivate the plant to manufacture heroin destined for the United States, although its production is not significant for the illegal US market: Mexico and Colombia.
The Senlis Council – today: The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), a "think tank" International, proposes the use of part of the Afghan opium for the production of essential medicines such as morphine, as is done in India. This organization has prepared a technical report on this project, under the title Poppy for medicines.
There has also been experimentation with varieties specially selected to produce much lower concentrations of alkaloids, for example the variety Zeno Morfex, widely used in Germany.
Chemical composition
- Savia: 10-20 % of alkaloids, 5-6 % of mineral matter, 30% of sugars and organic acids (lactic, fumárico, meconic). The alkaloids present are isochinoleinic alkaloids, derived from thyrosine with a benzylchynoleinic nucleus (paperin) or morphine (morphine, codeine, tebaine).
- Seeds: They do not contain alkaloids.
Benzylisoquinoline (BIA) metabolism
Alkaloids are nitrogenous organic compounds, derived from secondary metabolism, produced by certain plants. Poppy-derived alkaloids are synthesized via the benzylisoquinoline metabolic pathway.
First, the amino acid phenylalanine, through the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, is transformed into tyrosine. Tyrosine can follow two different paths: through a tyrosine hydroxylase it can form L-dopamine (L-DOPA), or it can be reduced to form 4-phenylhydroxyacetaldehyde (4-HPAA). Subsequently, L-DOPA reacts with 4-HPAA and, through a series of reactions, forms (S)-norcoclaurine, which carries the benzylisoquinoline skeleton that gives its name to this pathway. The conversion of (S)-norcoclaurine to (S)-reticulin is one of the key points, since morphine can be formed from (S)-reticulin via the morphinan pathway, noscapine via the noscapine or berberine.
Genome analysis
Li Guo et al. (2018) have succeeded in assembling the poppy genome. Its genome, which contains 51,213 protein-coding genes, is composed of 2.72 Gb, 81.6% distributed in 11 individual chromosomes and the remaining 18.4% in unplaced scaffolds. In addition, 70.9% of the genome is made up of repetitive elements, of which the most represented are the long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons. This gene enrichment is related to the maintenance of homeostasis and an upregulation of transcription.
Poppy synteny analysis reveals traces of segmental duplications 110 million years ago (MYA), before the divergence between Papaveraceae and Ranunculaceae, and an event of duplication of the whole genome makes 7.8 MYA.
Regarding the BIA metabolism genes, it has been seen that they appear grouped as follows:
- Genes responsible for converting (S)-reticulin to noscapine are found in chromosome 11.
- Genes responsible for converting (S)-reticulin to tebain are found in chromosome 11.
- The genes responsible for the conversion of tebain are found in chromosome 1, chromosome 2, chromosome 7 and scaffold Not located 107.
The presence of genes exclusively associated with BIA metabolism, together with a coordinated regulation of gene expression, exerted a selection pressure that favored the clustering of these genes in this way.
Pharmacological activity
It has a hypnoanalgesic action.
For other medicinal uses, see: Medicinal plants.
Morphine
- Analgesic: depresses nociception and modifies emotional components. It is used in acute pains of high intensity and chronic pains.
- Respiratory depression: at therapeutic doses and carries the most worrying adverse reaction as it can reach death. It also depresses cough.
- Stimulant of vomiting
- Astringente: causes constipation due to decrease of the intestinal tone, peristalism and intestinal secretions.
Codeine
- Antitusigen: used as a dry cough remedy.
- Analgesic: used in combination with paracetamol, particularly for mild or moderate neuropathic pain.
Papaverine
- Spasmolytic.
Noscapine
- Antitussive: noscapine is an alkaloid bencilisoquinolynic obtained from opium, which behaves as a central antitusive. It produces depression of the medular center of the cough, by diminishing the production of tachycinins, the main neurotransmitters of the C fibers, which constitute that control center. It is unknown how it exercises that effect. It has an antitusive effect similar to that of codeine, but unlike it, it lacks effects on the respiratory system.
Parasites and diseases
There are numerous insects that parasitize this plant, in particular there is a species of wasp Iraella luteipes that produces galls on the stems of the plant, endangering industrial crops for pharmaceutical, food or other purposes. ornamental. They can be controlled with biological agents, particularly entomopathogenic fungi.
Taxonomy
Papaver somniferum was described by Carlos Linnaeus and published in Species Plantarum, vol. 1 p. 508, 1753[1].
- Etymology
See: Papaver
- somniferum: Latin borrowed somn/25070/fěrum, -ěra, -ίm (de) somnus, dream and fěro, take) or be somnive, narcotic.
- Accepted infraspecific taxa
- Papaver somniferum subsp. setigerum (DC.) Arcang.
- Cytology
Number of chromosomes: 2n=22
Common names
- Castilian: abbots, opium poppy (38), white opium poppy, lunar opium poppy (2), black opium poppy, starch, white opium poppy, poppy (2), poppy, poppy, poppy (3), white poppy, poppy, poppy (2), poppy, poppy, poppy, poppy, poppy, poppy, poppy, poppy The figures in parentheses indicate the frequency of the use of the vocable in Spain.