New research suggests that psilocybin, a compound found in magic mushrooms, may be effective in treating depression symptoms. recep-bg/Getty Images
A study has found that psilocybin appears to have antidepressant properties.
Experts say it activates serotonin receptors.
It might also work by increasing the brain’s neuroplasticity.
Side effects are minimal, and it is regarded as non-addictive.
“Magic mushrooms” are often used by people seeking their hallucinogenic effects.
However, psilocybin, a compound found in magic mushrooms, might also have applications in treating depression, according to a studyTrusted Source published on May 1, 2024, in BMJ.
This is significant since an estimated 5% of adultsTrusted Source around the world are affected by this common mood disorder.
The authors of the study note that it appears to reduce symptoms after only one or two doses.
To learn more about how well psilocybin works for depression, the researchers searched various databases for randomized controlled trials comparing the drug with controls, such as microdoses of psychedelics, niacin or a placebo.
The review also included any studies in which psychotherapy was used in both the experimental and control groups. This allowed them to distinguish between the effects of psychotherapy and psilocybin.
Altogether, they were able to gather seven trials, including 436 participants with depression. A little over half were women, while most (90%) were white.
After analyzing changes in depression scores, they found that psilocybin had a large effect size, meaning that it had a strong positive effect on depression symptoms when compared with the control groups.
The team of scientists also found that factors like having depression secondary to another health condition, being assessed using a self-reported scale, being older, and having previously used psychedelics were associated with larger improvements in scores.
Padam Bhatia, MD, FAPA, Chief Executive Officer at Elevate Psychiatry in Miami, Florida, commented on the research saying that the large effect size was the most “impressive” part of the study.
“While most studies answer a single question (“Did the medication work or not?”), effect size goes a step further and looks at how well the medication worked,” he said.
“For this study, the effect size was huge, much greater than any oral antidepressant that has ever been studied.”
However, he did point out that while the results are promising, the individual studies were small and had significantly different methods and results.
Bhatia said that more studies would need to be done to reach a conclusive answer.
Before it becomes an accepted treatment for depression, there would also need to be a change in the legal landscape of the country to allow its medicinal use.
According to Psychedelic Alpha, while several cities throughout the U.S. have decriminalized the personal use of psilocybin, only two states, Oregon and Colorado, have decriminalized psilocybin in general and have legalized psilocybin use at licensed service centers.
However, several other states have active legislation or working groups to study its use.
Alex Dimitriu, MD, who is double board-certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine, explained that researchers are still learning why psilocybin might have an antidepressant effect.
He said one possible mechanism “is increased neuroplasticity, allowing the brain to make new connections, known as synaptogenesis.”
Dimitriu went on to explain that neuroplasticity might allow a patient to develop new ways of looking at old problems. It might also allow them to make connections to life events and behaviors that previously did not exist.
“Put more briefly,” he said, “the effects are likely biological as well as psychological and rooted in improvement in the function of the serotonin system, as well as higher-level changes in thought patterns.”
Bhatia noted that while research is growing on the potential mental health benefits of the therapeutic use of psilocybin, magic mushrooms should still be used with caution since being in an altered state of mind can be challenging
“An extreme version of these side effects, sometimes called a ‘bad trip,’ can be associated with confusion, disorganized thinking, and severe panic,” said Bhatia.
“Although this is temporary, it is certainly disturbing to the individual and can lead to physical aggression or [in rare casesTrusted Source] seeking emergency treatment.”
Dimitriu agreed with Bhatia, noting that while there are minimal physiological risks with psychedelic use, the “power and intensity of these substances and experiences cannot be underestimated.”
He noted that while some experiences “can be very positive and uplifting,” others can be scary or temporarily destabilizing.
Dimitriu advised that you should seek out guidance and support before, during, and after using psilocybin for the best outcome.
Using an analogy, he added, “You would never willingly fly an airplane alone for the first time,” noting that you should not attempt to treat yourself as it could be “catastrophic.”
“Of particular concern is people with any history of psychosis, bipolar disorder, and possibly panic attacks,” he concluded.
A new study published in BMJ has found that psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, could have applications as an antidepressant.
In a meta-analysis of seven studies, they found it had a strong positive effect on depression symptoms.
It might exert its antidepressant effect by increasing serotonin receptor sensitivity or by increasing brain neuroplasticity.
However, while the findings of the meta-analysis are promising, the selected studies were small, and more research is needed to determine whether psilocybin is an effective antidepressant.
The push to legalize magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD and other hallucinogens is likely to heighten tensions between state and federal law, drug law expert Robert Mikos say
When Oregon’s first psilocybin service center opened in June 2023, allowing those over 21 to take mind-altering mushrooms in a state-licensed facility, the psychedelic revival that had been unfolding over the past two decades entered an important new phase.
Psilocybin is still illegal on the federal level. But now, as researchers explore the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and other psychedelics, including LSD and MDMA (also known as Molly or ecstasy), legal reform efforts are spreading across the country — raising tensions between state and federal laws.
As a class, psychedelic drugs were outlawed in the United States by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The act designated psychedelics as Schedule I drugs — the most restrictive classification, indicating a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. That status limits research to federally approved scientific studies and restricts federal funding to research with “significant medical evidence of a therapeutic advantage.”
Today, decades after research on the effects of hallucinogens on the brain was sidelined by the act, academic and cultural interest in psychedelics is on the rise. More than 60 percent of Americans now support regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics, while nearly half support decriminalization, and nearly 45 percent support spiritual and religious use. An estimated 5.5 million US adults use psychedelics each year.
In opening psilocybin service centers where adults can buy and consume “magic mushrooms” without a doctor’s prescription, Oregon took the biggest step yet toward expanding legal psychedelic access in the United States. In the process, it joined a growing number of states and municipalities that are carving their own paths with drug laws. Colorado legalized the use and possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms and three other psychedelics in 2022 and aims to open licensed use facilities by the end of 2024. And California’s legislature passed a bill in 2023 that would have legalized adult possession of psilocybin, the related psilocin and two other hallucinogens (dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, and mescaline), although Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it in October, asking for legislation that focuses on therapeutic uses.
In all, 20 states introduced psychedelic-related legislation in 2023, ranging from plans to establish research councils and working groups to proposals to legalize use and possession of certain drugs. Meanwhile, cities in California, Michigan and Massachusetts have stopped enforcement or otherwise decriminalized possession of some psychedelics, typically ones that are naturally found in plants and fungi. Washington, DC, the seat of the federal government, has also loosened its psychedelic laws.
Some of these reform efforts aim to revive research that might lead to badly needed mental health treatments; others are pushing back against what many deem unfair criminal punishments stemming from the “war on drugs.” The result is a growing patchwork of state and local laws that stand in conflict with the Controlled Substances Act.
What does the future hold? Robert Mikos, an expert on drug law at Vanderbilt University Law School in Tennessee, says the history of marijuana law reform may offer some indicators.
In 1996, California voters approved the medical use of marijuana, and today 38 states have medical marijuana programs, while 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational use. Seventy percent of Americans support marijuana legalization, up from about 25 percent when California first changed its law. And yet marijuana, which is sometimes itself considered a psychedelic, remains a Schedule I substance.
Thirty-eight states have legalized medical use of marijuana, and 24 of those now also allow adult recreational use. Other states permit sales only of low-potency cannabis.
For marijuana, too, public perception underwent dramatic shifts as research demonstrated its relative safety and effectiveness for the treatment of pain and nausea, among other maladies.
Mikos analyzed the implications of marijuana reform history for the legal future of psychedelics in the 2022 Annual Review of Law and Social Science. In an interview with Knowable Magazine, he explored the path toward rescheduling, why different types of psychedelics need to be considered separately, and the interplay between federal and state drug laws.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What have you learned from studying the history of marijuana reform in terms of what’s now happening with psychedelics?
The biggest lesson is that you don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket and get the federal government to sign on, which is extremely difficult to do. The states provide an alternate forum for pursuing reforms. We’ve seen some small changes to federal law, but in the last 26 years or so, we’ve seen the states figure out ways around all the obstacles erected by the federal government. There are some compromises and sacrifices that have to be made to work around federal law, but you can pull this off and have meaningful reform without agreement from the federal government — even with some hostility from the federal government.
Do you think the legal journey of marijuana should inform the future for psychedelics?
There are differences here. No one even agrees on what the term psychedelics encompasses. Some people think immediately of plant-based psychedelics like psilocybin. Others would include lab-made drugs like LSD. It’s a much more diverse array of substances than marijuana. If someone wants to legalize psychedelics, they may have to pick one substance and run with it. That is a clearer path to success than saying you’re going to legalize all psychedelics. I don’t think any state would be willing to do that at this point.
Framing its use as medical helps — that was certainly true with marijuana. It’s much easier to sell the public on legalizing something for medical use rather than recreational or spiritual use. Under the Controlled Substances Act, the only lawful use of a controlled substance is medical, so there was a natural inclination to frame marijuana use as medical.
Politically, it would be easier to convince a majority of the public to support a ballot initiative to legalize some psychedelics, like psilocybin, for medical use. It would be a simpler story than saying, “Some people here want to go out and trip.”
In Oregon, psylocibin can now be taken at a state-licensed center under the guidance of people trained to facilitate users’ psychedelic experiences. Here, students in training to work as psylocibin guides wear sleep masks as part of a class exercise.CREDIT: LIZZY ACKER / THE OREGONIAN
In 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked by the Drug Enforcement Administration with reviewing the medical and scientific evidence for a drug’s scheduling, recommended reclassifying marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, indicating federal recognition of its accepted medical use. That move would open the door to federal approval of medical marijuana but keep it criminally controlled. Could that be a path for psychedelic reform?
If the Drug Enforcement Administration does reschedule marijuana, it would show that you could get this done at the federal level — but consider that the Controlled Substances Act was passed more than 50 years ago. Marijuana could still end up moving only one rung, to Schedule II, which is very tightly controlled — cocaine is there right now. My takeaway is: Don’t hold your breath waiting for the federal government to change its laws.
And for psychedelics, it’s more complicated. You’d need to make that same demonstration to the Food and Drug Administration — that the drug has medical uses — for each and every drug you were interested in. (The FDA evaluates a drug’s safety and medical efficacy, as well as potential for abuse, among other factors, in its analysis.)
Still, there’s at least a sign, now, that you can convince the federal government to lower the controls on some of these long-forbidden substances. But given how much time it’s taken and how limited that impact would be, it suggests you need to do something else — probably going through the states again and not the federal government.
To what extent is the Controlled Substances Act dictating the trajectory of psychedelic reform?
The Controlled Substances Actprivileges medical use, which is going to frame the debate around these substances. But I think people are going to shoehorn in uses that are not genuinely medical uses of the drug.
People are trying to scientifically test these drugs, but ironically, the Controlled Substances Act makes that very difficult. If a drug is on Schedule I, to move it off you need clinical trials demonstrating that it’s effective at treating some medical condition. But conducting those medical trials is really difficult because it’s Schedule I.
The federal government wants to make sure that something someone says is going to be used in a clinical research trial is not sold on the black market. So it imposes special controls, which it could relax to make it easier for universities, hospitals and scientists to test the medical efficacy of different psychedelics.
Even though psychedelics are often discussed as an entire class of drugs, they differ in their chemistry, how they’re created and how they affect individuals who take them. How will that influence the way advocates approach reform?
At the federal level, even if you conduct mountains of research demonstrating that LSD has some accepted medical use, that won’t have any effect on whether to reschedule psilocybin. Politically, it may be difficult to form alliances in that situation between people who believe strongly in legalizing psilocybin versus those who support legalizing a different psychedelic drug.
At the state level, it could get tricky. Will there be enough people out there who are willing to support an initiative targeted at just one of these psychedelics? We don’t have much public opinion research on psychedelics in general, and certainly not on individual psychedelics, which may be the route that reformers need to take.
MDMA was granted “breakthrough therapy” status in order to be studied as part of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, and the completion of a Phase 3 trial in fall 2023 means it could be approved by the FDA for this use as early as 2024. Would that require the drug to be rescheduled? And how would that change the trajectory for psychedelics overall at the federal level?
It would necessitate rescheduling. You can’t keep a drug on Schedule I if it has accepted medical use. Which other schedule it falls on depends on the relative harms and likelihood of abuse. But I’m not sure there are broader ramifications. The Controlled Substances Act calls for the scheduling of individual substances, rather than classes of substances, so the scheduling of MDMA has no implications for the scheduling of psilocybin.
A Phase 3 clinical trial found that MDMA-assisted therapy reduced participants’ symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and functional impairment better than placebo — a major advancement in efforts to show the therapeutic potential of psychedelics.
What does the tension between state and federal psychedelics law look like?
It’s a bit like a chess match. The states can liberalize their laws and allow people to use, manufacture and distribute some psychedelics, such as psilocybin in Oregon, without fear of arrest from the state government.
The federal government could try to counter the states by making it very difficult for the states to regulate psychedelics. This was true in the early days of state marijuana law reforms. The states wanted to create a safe and heavily state-regulated supply system, but the federal government was threatening to crack down on suppliers, so states didn’t try to set up regulated supply systems. In California, for example, people set up enormous collectives that served tens of thousands of patients, but those suppliers weren’t regulated to the same degree they are now.
You saw state regulation take off only around 2009 when the Obama administration announced it would stop raiding medical marijuana distributors. But that was more than 12 years into state marijuana reforms. Prior to that, states said, “We’re going to call your bluff.… We’re not going to arrest patients. Instead, we’re going to tell patients to grow it themselves, get it from a friend or the black market.”
That’s less than ideal. The states didn’t want some 70-year-old terminal cancer patient having to grow their own medicine, but they said that’s better than threatening to arrest that patient. You might see a similar tit-for-tat in the psychedelics realm.
Oregon has tried to jump the gun a little bit with psilocybin. What they’re envisioning is a tightly regulated state supply system. You can’t buy it and use it at home at your leisure — you have to use it at a state-licensed psilocybin service center.
The problem with that is that it’s much easier for the federal government to shut down state-regulated suppliers because you’ve got a list of them, so it puts those suppliers in harm’s way. They can be arrested, prosecuted, thrown in prison for long terms and have their assets seized.
But if the federal government cracks down on those psilocybin service centers, Oregon might just lift its prohibition on making and distributing this drug. And then the federal government might come back to the table, as it eventually did with medical marijuana.
It’s a back-and-forth between the states and the federal government to figure out how much the federal government will tolerate.
A marijuana dispensary in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of 38 states that have legalized medical use of the drug.
What lessons have we learned from the early stages of psychedelic law reform?
Oregon passed Measure 109 back in fall 2020. It took three years for the first psilocybin service center to open. It takes time to figure out how to do this, especially for early adopters. Can we actually have a system where the state is looking over your shoulder while you’re taking this drug? Or is that going to backfire and is the federal government going to use that to crack down on these centers?
As long as the sky doesn’t fall and you don’t see some disasters from these early adopters, I think other states will warm to it. But the first few years are going to be slow going.
Are there indications yet about whether psychedelics will be able to gather the same kind of political backing that helped push marijuana reform?
I am deeply skeptical. If you look at marijuana, we’ve had the majority of Americans support legalization for recreational or adult use for 10 years and we’re just now getting some tepid indications that somewhere down the line the Biden administration might change federal law governing marijuana to allow for medical use.
It’s going to take a while before you get that sort of public support for psychedelics reform, if you ever get it, and you’d need that before whoever is in federal office 10 to 20 years from now actually embraces this.
Scientists finally know how magic mushrooms — a psychedelic drug — rewires the brain to treat depression. An international team says the psychedelic compound psilocybin is the key, helping to “open up” the minds of patients even weeks after using the drug.
Researchers from Imperial College London examined the brain scans of nearly 60 people in treatment for depression. The scans revealed that psilocybin therapy increased brain connectivity in these patients, lasting for up to three weeks. By “opening up” the brain, patients reported improvements in their depressive symptoms.
Conversely, using conventional antidepressants such as escitalopram did not increase brain connectivity, suggesting the psychedelic affects the mind in a much different way from standard prescription drugs. Previous studies have also looked at the possibility of using mushrooms as a mental health medication as well.
“The effect seen with psilocybin is consistent across two studies, related to people getting better, and was not seen with a conventional antidepressant,” says senior author Professor Robin Carhart-Harris from the University of California-San Francisco in a media release.
“In previous studies we had seen a similar effect in the brain when people were scanned whilst on a psychedelic, but here we’re seeing it weeks after treatment for depression, which suggests a ‘carry over’ of the acute drug action.”
How is psilocybin rewiring the brain?
Although scientists working with magic mushrooms have seen these benefits before, it hasn’t been clear how psilocybin actually alters the brain. Using fMRI scans on the patients in the randomized control trial, researchers found people taking the compound saw an increase in communication between brain regions that are usually isolated in depressed brains.
Additionally, researchers discovered a link between improving symptoms and more connectivity in the brain. Although the strength and duration of these benefits varied from person to person, the team found the strongest brain changes among patients reporting the greatest improvements in their mental health.
“We don’t yet know how long the changes in brain activity seen with psilocybin therapy last and we need to do more research to understand this. We do know that some people relapse, and it may be that after a while their brains revert to the rigid patterns of activity we see in depression,” says Prof. Carhart-Harris.
Mushrooms could make the brain more ‘flexible and fluid’
Scientists note that trials examining psilocybin’s impact on depression generally take place under controlled, clinical conditions and use regulated doses of magic mushrooms. The team adds that people dealing with depression should not try self-medicating with psilocybin or consume magic mushrooms without the guidance of a medical professional.
“These findings are important because for the first time we find that psilocybin works differently from conventional antidepressants – making the brain more flexible and fluid, and less entrenched in the negative thinking patterns associated with depression. This supports our initial predictions and confirms psilocybin could be a real alternative approach to depression treatments,” says Professor David Nutt, the head of the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research.
“One exciting implication of our findings is that we have discovered a fundamental mechanism via which psychedelic therapy works not just for depression – but other mental illnesses, such as anorexia or addiction. We now need to test if this is the case, and if it is, then we have found something important,” Prof. Carhart-Harris concludes.
Tripping on “magic mushrooms” makes music sound and “feel” better. That’s the conclusion of a new study examining psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic ingredient in mushrooms. Researchers say the drug can boost the experience by as much as 60 percent.
Scientists add pairing the psychedelic drug with music could be yet another way to use them as a depression treatment.
“We found that psilocybin markedly enhanced the emotional response to music, when compared to the response before taking the drugs,” says study lead author Professor Dea Siggaard Stenbaek of Copenhagen University, in a media release.
Researchers believe humans have been taking magic mushrooms, which contain psilocybin, for over 6,000 years. Psilocybin was first synthesized in 1958 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, who discovered LSD. Extensive research into psilocybin’s medical uses began early on, however, this became difficult after the U.S. introduced a ban on the use of psychedelics in 1970.
Music’s long connection to mushrooms
Psychedelics, including psilocybin, became popular during the “Flower Power” movement of the 1960s and inspired a host of bands including, reportedly, The Beatles. Previous studies have confirmed LSD has a profound impact on the brain when people listen to music. Current entertainers have even been influenced by psychedelics, such as Harry Styles’ second album “Fine Line” which was inspired by magic mushrooms. Two years ago, Styles reported tripping and listening to the greats of the psychedelic era while spending time at Shangri-La Studios in Los Angeles.
“Ah, yes. Did a lot of mushrooms here. We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s ‘Ram’ in the sunshine,” according to Styles during a tour of the studio. “This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place.”
Can music and mushrooms improve emotional well-being?
To test the effect of psilocybin on music listeners, 20 men and women were given psilocybin or the controlled drug called ketanserin that treats high blood pressure. Afterwards, they listened to Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum” for a total of ten minutes. Scientists measured the participant’s enjoyment and then gave them a score using the Geneva Emotional Music Scale which covers nine mental states. They include wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, power, joyful activation, tension, and sadness.
“Psilocybin increased the emotional response to music by around 60%. This response was even greater when compared to ketanserin. In fact, we found ketanserin lessens the emotional response to music. This shows [the] combination of psilocybin and music has a strong emotional effect. We believe this will be important for the therapeutic application of psychedelics if they are approved for clinical use. Psilocybin is under development as a drug to treat depression. This work implies music needs to be considered as a therapeutic part of the treatment,” Prof. Stenbaek reports.
Scientists randomly selected the drug to be administered first for each individual so they could report on the effects of both. At the peak of effects, they listened to the short music program and rated their feelings. Scientists generally use selected music playlists to support the psychedelic experience during clinical trials involving psilocybin. The findings suggest combining psilocybin with music will achieve the greatest benefits.
How does psilocybin impact the brain?
There has been considerable interest in the use of psychedelics in the treatment of depression and other mental illnesses. In particular, research has shown promising results with the use of psilocybin, which is found naturally in several species of mushrooms. The “trip” occurs quickly and is administered with psychological support. Scientists say psilocybin could yield even stronger therapeutic advantages given that it affects the way music elicits emotions.
“Interestingly, some of the music we used, Elgar’s famous ‘Nimrod’ variation, describes his close friend Augustus Jaeger. Jaeger encouraged Elgar to write the variations as a way out of depression. So we’re pleased to see it used again to help understand more about mental health. Our next step is to look at the effect of music on the brain while under the influence of psilocybin in data material we have already collected, using an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] scan,” Prof. Stenbaek concludes.
Researchers believe psilocybin increases connections between brain neurons that are weakened in people with depression. Magic mushrooms were sometimes used in spiritual events held by indigenous Americans hundreds of years ago. Past studies on the drug’s ability to combat anxiety, depression, and alcoholism have shown promise.
“This is further evidence of the potential of using music to facilitate treatment efficacy with psychedelics. What we need to do now is optimize this approach probably through individualizing and personalizing music tracks in therapy,” says Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London, who did not take part in the study.
“Magic mushrooms” have long shown promise in treating mental health conditions, but now, the largest genomic diversity study of these fungi is offering new insights into its evolution and potential therapeutic uses. Researchers from the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) delved into the Psilocybe genus, which contains the psychoactive compounds psilocybin and psilocin, and found it originated around the time when dinosaurs went extinct.
Until now, scientific understanding of these compounds was limited, based on only a fraction of the approximately 165 known Psilocybe species. This study’s genomic analysis of 52 Psilocybe specimens, including 39 never-before-sequenced species, marks a significant step forward.
The researchers discovered that Psilocybe originated around 65 million years ago, coinciding with the asteroid strike that led to the extinction of dinosaurs. This finding challenges previous assumptions about the fungi’s age. The study also reveals that psilocybin first synthesized in mushrooms in the Psilocybe genus, with four to five horizontal gene transfers to other mushrooms occurring between nine and 40 million years ago.
Psilocybe cyanescens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
An intriguing aspect of the study is the identification of two distinct gene orders within the gene cluster that produces psilocybin, indicating two independent acquisitions of psilocybin in the genus’s evolutionary history.
“If psilocybin does turn out to be this kind of wonder drug, there’s going to be a need to develop therapeutics to improve its efficacy. What if it already exists in nature?” says study senior author Bryn Dentinger, curator of mycology at NHMU, in a university release. “There’s a wealth of diversity of these compounds out there. To understand where they are and how they’re made, we need to do this kind of molecular work to use biodiversity to our advantage.”
Holotype specimen of Psilocybe subtropicalis.
The study also utilized “type specimens” from museum collections worldwide. These specimens are considered the gold standard in taxonomy, serving as reference points for identifying species. The molecular work on these type specimens is a critical contribution to the field of mycology, providing a reliable foundation for future research on Psilocybe diversity.
Researchers also explored the potential roles of psilocybin in mushrooms. While its molecular structure mimics serotonin and binds tightly to serotonin receptors in mammals, the exact benefits to the mushrooms remain unclear. Some theories suggest it could be a deterrent to predation or a chemical defense against insects, but empirical evidence is lacking.
The authors are preparing experiments to test the Gastropod Hypothesis, which posits that psilocybin may have evolved as a deterrent to slugs, a significant predator of mushrooms. This hypothesis aligns with the timing of Psilocybe’s divergence around 65 million years ago, following the asteroid impact and a period of massive diversification and proliferation of terrestrial gastropods.
A simplified evolutionary tree for the genus Psilocybe. Clade I and Clade II represent the Psilocybe species with the same gene order patterns within their psilocybin-producing gene clusters.
“It’s impossible to overstate the importance of collections for doing studies like this. We are standing on the shoulders of giants, who spent thousands of people-power hours to create these collections, so that I can write an email and request access to rare specimens, many of which have only ever been collected once, and may never be collected again,” says study lead author Alexander Bradshaw, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utah.
With plans to sequence every Psilocybe type specimen, researchers continue to collaborate with collections globally, shedding light on the mysterious and potentially therapeutic world of magic mushrooms.
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