From the psilocybin in magic mushrooms to dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in toads to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana, a wide variety of organisms can produce psychoactive substances, despite belonging to entirely different kingdoms.
But what if a plant were to be able to bridge those gaps and produce several different psychedelic compounds at once?
In a trippy experiment, detailed in a study published this week in the journal Science Advances, a team led by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, have genetically engineered super tobacco plants that can produce five natural psychedelics — psilocin and psilocybin found in magic mushrooms, DMT from the ayahuasca plant, and bufotenin and 5-methoxy-DMT, which is secreted by the Sonoran Desert toad — at once.
Besides possibly making for one hell of a trip if ingested — as far as we can tell, nobody has tried to eat the leaves of one of these plants yet — the achievement could lay the groundwork for more sustainable and scalable production of these psychoactive compounds, called psychedelic indolethylamines.
The goal isn’t to get high for recreational purposes, as co-lead and Weizmann Institute postdoctoral researcher Paula Berman told 404 Media, instead emphasizing how these substances could have “therapeutic potential.” Previous research has shown that psilocybin therapy, for instance, could be used to treat mental health conditions such as depression.
It’s a wild foray into the world of psychedelics, demonstrating how far modern genetic research has come.
“This combination of five psychedelics — I don’t think anyone has ever tried something like it,” senior author and Weizmann Institute of Science researcher Asaph Aharoni told 404 Media.
The research also highlights the need for a more sustainable way to source these compounds. As interest for these psychoactive substances grows for both recreational and therapeutic use, the organisms that produce them are often being over-harvested and poached. Conventional methods to synthesize them can also be complex and laborious.
For their study, the researchers inserted the active genes of five tryptamines, a class of hallucinogens, into the leaves of a tobacco plant.
“While the concentrations of DMT 4 and 5-MeO-DMT 10 achieved in this study are lower than those in natural producers, our platform offers a cruelty-free, ecological alternative to harvesting indolethylamines from vulnerable sources,” the paper reads.
“The Sonoran Desert toad is increasingly threatened by habitat loss, poaching, and overcollection, raising serious conservation concerns,” they added. “Similarly, the slow growing P. viridis faces growing pressure in its native habitats due to land loss and the rising demand for Ayahuasca tourism.”
The team intentionally stopped short from having the plants pass on these substances to their offspring since it was a proof of concept. Besides, the danger of having seeds that can produce all five tryptamines land into the wrong hands could be considerable.
“In one leaf, we get five different psychedelics from three different kingdoms,” Aharoni told 404 Media. “But since it is not inherited, it will stay in the leaves and will not go through to seeds, flowering, pollination, and to the next generation.”
Besides establishing the groundwork for a far more efficient production of these substances, the team was interested in why these plants produce them in the first place, something that remains a topic of scientific debate.
For now, chances are, their “trippy tobacco,” as Science described it, likely won’t be a hit at the next shamanic ritual. For one, the amounts the plants produced are very low compared to the source organisms.
“That has some cool novelty, but it doesn’t have a lot of practicality,” Miami University bioengineer Andrew Jones, who was not involved in the study but called it “exciting work,” told the publication. “There are a few psychonauts out there that will get a kick out of it.”
More on tripping: People Are Taking Massive Doses of Psychedelic Drugs and Using AI as a Tripsitter
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