Psychedelic mushrooms. (Credit: robtek/Shutterstock) By now, it's pretty clear that psilocybin, the active compound in "magic mushrooms" has a potent effect on human beings. But psychedelic visions obviously weren't the evolutionary force that caused some fungi to make the compound — it's an unforeseen side effect. With a new genetic analysis, researchers think they've identified why magic mushrooms started producing "magic" in the first place. The culprit, they say, is insects.
By sequencing the genomes of three separate species of psychedelic mushrooms and comparing them to genomes from mushrooms not known to possess psychoactive properties, the researchers identified a cluster of five genes common to all three that are involved with psilocybin production. Though the three psychedelic species aren't closely related, they do inhabit similar environments, namely dung and decaying wood. Because of this, the researchers think that the psilocybin could be a defense against insects that commonly inhabit such ...
