Psilocybin is produced by more than 180 kinds of mushrooms around the world, most likely as a defense mechanism. Scientists believe that psilocybin suppresses the appetite of predatory insects such as ants — causing them to feel full before devouring the entire mushroom. Humans, on the other hand, are prone to tripping.
The fact that unrelated species grow in the same insect-rich environments (animal excrement and decaying wood) possibly explains why they have the same genetic protection.
This finding could help medical science by leading researchers in the direction of other chemicals that could be utilized to treat brain diseases. According to researcher Jason Slot, an assistant professor of fungal evolutionary genomics at The Ohio State University, the finding helps explain a biological enigma. It can also potentially open scientific doors to studies of innovative treatments for neurological disorders.
Mushrooms that contain psilocybin have a wide range of biological lineages and, on the surface, don’t appear to have anything in common. That’s intriguing from an evolutionary biology standpoint, as it leads to a phenomenon called horizontal gene transfer, in which genetic material moves from one species to another. When it happens in nature, it’s usually in reaction to environmental pressures or opportunities.
In their study, Slot and his co-authors looked at three different types of psychedelic mushrooms, as well as similar fungi that don’t create hallucinations, and discovered a cluster of five genes that appear to explain what the mushrooms have in common. They discovered an evolutionary insight as to why mushrooms have the power to induce altered states of consciousness in humans. The genes that make psilocybin appear to have been transferred in a fungus-eating insect-infested environment, such as animal manure.
Fungi can use psilocybin to interfere with a neurotransmitter in humans as well as insects — which are likely their biggest adversary. Suppression of this neurotransmitter is known to reduce hunger in flies.
“We speculate that mushrooms evolved to be hallucinogenic because it lowered the chances of the fungi getting eaten by insects,” Slot explains. “The psilocybin probably doesn’t just poison predators or taste bad. These mushrooms are altering the insects’ ‘mind’ — if they have minds — to meet their own needs.”
According to Slot, this finding could help medical science by leading researchers in the direction of other chemicals that could be utilized to treat brain diseases.
Treatment-resistant depression, substance abuse disorder, and end-of-life anxiety have all been investigated with psilocybin. A few researchers in the United States are looking into potential therapeutic uses, but most of the study is being done elsewhere. For decades, strict drug restrictions have stymied such research. “There was an expectation that you could potentially derail your career if you were found to be a psychedelics researcher,” Slot notes. “The science that’s being done on [magic mushrooms] has taken on more of an air of respectability.”
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