Researchers don’t know exactly how psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, evolved. Now, a new study adds to the mystery: Its findings reveal that two different groups of fungi came up with independent ways to produce the seemingly magical molecule.

In a paper published September 21 in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, scientists analyzed the genes and proteins used by Psilocybe and Inocybe mushrooms to make psilocybin. To their surprise, they found that the two genera of mushrooms produce the compound using completely different pathways.

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[–] 2 points 1 year ago

I think reindeer eat them, but I'm not sure if they trip.

Psilocin is excreted in urine unchanged. I believe native shamans would drink the reindeer's piss after it had eaten psilocin containing mushrooms that were otherwise inedible to humans.

I could be misremembering, but I think people would also drink the shaman's piss after they "filtered" it?

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