Scientists found that the magic behind so-called “magic mushrooms”—psilocybin, a psychedelic compound—has evolved at least twice in mushrooms, and in very different ways.
Researchers in Germany and Austria examined two different types of magic mushrooms. They showed that while both kinds make psilocybin, the biochemistry each relied on to produce the natural compound were entirely distinct. The findings suggest psilocybin may be an example of convergent evolution, in which two, unrelated forms of life nevertheless evolve to develop similar traits or features.
“Mushrooms have learned twice independently how to make the iconic magic mushroom natural product psilocybin,” the authors wrote in the paper, published last month in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
I skimmed over the Psilocybin wikipedia page and couldn't get a clear answer, and I always assumed it was a fluke of evolution, but what is the purpose of Psilocybin in mushrooms? What does it do? If it has evolved twice, surely it's not a fluke.
My guess: if you eat the mushrooms as an animal its basically guaranteed a predator is gonna kill you. Sorta like those trees that use chemicals to call over wasps when they sense a pest species
Fixation (being locked in a trance staring at pretty colors and shapes) could also be positive. There is a theory that it might increase the chances that spores get stuck to fur (or clothes) and be transported to a wider area.
If I could positively ID all mushrooms I found in the wild, those spores would absolutely be transported somewhere else. ;)
Ingested psilocybin takes at least a half hour to become psychoactive in the body, so I doubt it would be all that helpful in making an animal loiter to gather more spores.
Cattle or other grazing animal would be a prime candidate for loitering and then for some extended loitering. (Sorry for the shorts link, but it's for science and it's a time lapse of cattle in a field: https://youtube.com/shorts/hXPw-mxEBIY)
A side thought is that kind of movement would be perfect for spore distribution in a smaller area with similar growing conditions. It probably would increase the chance that similar strain momma and daddy spores meet. (Large dung piles also happens to be a decent medium for some mushroom strains.)
That still doesn't prove anything scientifically or even build a case, but at least you got a time lapse video of cattle in a field.
I once had APE aborts. I bought 2 grams and within 2 minutes, while I was still eating them, I began to feel it. I only ate about 1.5 grams and it broke my brain. It was not my first time with psilocybin but it was my last. I'm afraid of it now.
All that to say it does not take half an hour in all cases.
Geez! I grow and eat some weird strains, but that is kind crazy. Did you eat them fresh? (I have never had the balls to eat any cubes that were fresh picked, but I hear it can be a potent experience.)
They were dried. I estimate there were about 30 tiny mushrooms in that 2 grams. I ate about 20 of them.
I have read that an abort contains the same amount of psilocybin as a full grown mushroom. If so, I overdid it by 18 mushrooms.
I knew they would be potent but didn't think they would be that strong.
Exactly right, same deal as with chili peppers except that you won't shit yourself to death.
It’s fungi things, so no one knows.
So far we only got speculation, but it could be like caffeine and other alkaloids like cocaine: a bug deterrent.
https://www.idahostatejournal.com/community/isu-researchers-use-cockroaches-to-search-for-narcotics/article_85a9e420-dece-537d-b124-9b1037296ef0.html
They could probably just give them more lines of blow.. just sayin'..
One of those things that you're not supposed to like eating, but some humans do.
It's hard to say, because we aren't mushrooms/fungi. It's possible it has antifungal, anti-insect, or other properties allowing it to communicate with itself or trees etc that just so happen to trigger our cells too. Please keep in mind that we believe many of our organelles and multicellular stuff came from incorporating microorganisms of different types with each other. We are sorta part fungus
Psilocybin is also produced by massospora cicadina, which is a fungus that infects cicadas in a manner similar to cordyceps. Not only are the cicadas turned into zombies, they are also tripping balls at the same time.
That isn't particularly relevant to what you were saying but I was reminded of that when you suggested anti-insect.
Anti-fungal aspects of fungi are usually in metabolites excreted by mycelium.
Wow, TIL, thank you
I wanted to help clarify that many fungi do actually produce anti-fungal compounds. It doesn't make sense at first, but mycelium can be insanely competitive and it's usually "at war" with other types of fungi where growing conditions are ideal.
Edible mushroom growers may have to deal with trichoderma infections from time to time. That little bastard fights mainly by mass multiplication and rapid growth. It'll choke out and dominate other strains before they have a chance to produce any effective defense.
When starting a mushroom grow, it's basically just tilting the initial mycelium battles in the favor of the strain you want so it has a chance to dominate and kill other strains of fungi.
It's not a far stretch to assume that fungi developed odd chemical compounds if it even slightly increased survival odds. Any psychedelic aspects could be just an unintentional side effect that helped promote cultivation.
I don't personally think it's a far stretch, as we are basically cities of microorganisms and many battles are fought at a cellular and chemical level. Some plants produce pesticides that ward off other plants, like creosote bushes. It seems sensical that fungi might do something similar, especially because like you've noted, growing conditions for one type of fungus are often ideal for other types, leading to competition.