SCIENCE LAB. SCENIC : TRACKING THE ENZYMES

NATURE has more than one way to make magic : No one knows why magic mushrooms evolved to produce psilocybin - a powerful psychedelic molecule.

But this trait was apparently so beneficial for fungi that it independently evolved in two distantly related types of mushrooms.

An even greater surprise was that rather than arriving at the same solution for producing psilocybin, the two groups pursued completely different biochemical pathways, according to a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

'' This finding reminds us that nature finds more than one way to make important molecules ,'' said Dirk Hoffmeister, a pharmaceutical microbiologist at Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany and an author of the study.

He said the research also suggested a possible new path for synthesizing psilocybin for use in research and therapies.

Psilocybe, the group that includes what are traditionally called magic mushrooms, thrives on decaying materials like decomposing organic matter.

Inocybe, commonly known as fiber caps, are symbiotic organisms that form mutually beneficial relationships with trees.

In 1958, Albert Hofman, the chemist who discovered LSD, became the first researcher to isolate Psilocybe mushrooms. Some scientists later suspected that a few Inocybe mushrooms also produced the compound.

This publishing continues to Part [ 2 ]. The World Students Society thanks Rachel Nuwer.