PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kevin J. McKernan
AU  - Yvonne Helbert
AU  - Vasisht Tadigotla
AU  - Stephen McLaughlin
AU  - Jessica Spangler
AU  - Lei Zhang
AU  - Douglas Smith
TI  - Single molecule sequencing of THCA synthase reveals copy number variation in modern drug-type <em>Cannabis sativa</em> L
AID  - 10.1101/028654
DP  - 2015 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 028654
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/10/08/028654.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/10/08/028654.full
AB  - Cannabinoid expression is an important genetically determined feature of cannabis that presents clinical and legal implications for patients seeking cannabinoid specific therapies like Cannabidiol (CBD).Cannabinoid, terpenoid, and flavonoid marker assisted selection can accelerate breeding efforts by offering genetic tools to select for desired traits at an early stage in growth. To this end, multiple models for chemotype inheritance have been described suggesting a complex picture for chemical phenotype determination.Here we explore the potential role of copy number variation of THCA Synthase using phased single molecule sequencing and demonstrate that copy number and sequence variation of this gene is common and suggests a more nuanced view of chemotype prediction.