Beyond psilocybin: mushrooms have lots of cool compounds scientists should study
“It was a very simple, non-replicated experiment that showed flies can live in and emerge from these [psilocybin containing] mushrooms,” says Bryn Dentinger, the study’s lead author and mycology curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah. “So I don’t think that, the insecticidal property, we can’t rule it out entirely, but it’s clearly not a black-and-white scenario.”
Two studies released this year aimed to answer this question. The first, published in Evolution Letters, says it may be used as an insecticidal defense against pests. However, a recently published study on the preprint server bioRxiv (meaning it’s not yet peer-reviewed) suggested psilocybin may be used to attract bugs, not repel them, serving as an “insect-vectored spore dispersal” i.e. spreading spores like birds scatter seeds. To test this, scientists from the United Kingdom gathered and washed Psilocybe cyanescens, a psilocybin mushroom, that had been covered in dark-winged fungus gnats. Days later they watched as maggots emerged and grew into flies … Another [fugus], ergot has a symbiotic relationship with the grasses it infects, Young says, and help them to spread their seeds around. The chemicals ergot produces likely play a role in this relationship, though what that is, we don’t know. “The plant has some selectable advantage when that fungus is in there,” she says. “Otherwise, that fungus wouldn’t be there — nature would have crossed it out already.” … Why ergot produces so many compounds may have to do with an evolutionary concept called “bet hedging,” Young says. It’s a strategy that involves producing a variety of evolutionary responses to help an organism respond to a range of situations. (The same theory could apply to psilocybin mushrooms and the many serotonin-related chemicals they produce.)
Original Article (Blogs Discover):
Beyond Psilocybin: Mushrooms Have Lots of Cool Compounds Scientists Should Study
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