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Parasitic fungus produces psilocybin to drug & manipulate insect hosts Options
 
Bancopuma
#1 Posted : 7/28/2018 12:52:30 AM

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...cicadas in particular, with another fungus species producing a cathinone. These compounds seem to hyperexualise their cicada hosts, and this behaviour change (which is highly detrimental to the cicadas) aids the fungus in spreading.

...this is a pretty nifty example of a "simple" organism wresting control of a much more complex organism and bending it to its own whims through psychoactive manipulation. In the case of psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms as well as this parasitic fungus, it also calls into its question its role in the various fungal species it is found in. If it simply acts as a deterrent, as some hypothesise, one would expect it to be concentrated in the vulnerable fungal mycelium, where it is only found in trace amounts. Perhaps it has a more interesting and mysterious role to play in these fungi, and I think this may add some credence to Paul Stamet's hypothesis that psilocybin in mushrooms may be acting as an attractant to other organisms (such as us), and so aid the mushroom in spreading its spores.

Quote:
Body-snatching fungi that give rise to sex-crazed cicadas contain compounds of hallucinogenic drugs

It turns out insects can suffer from a bad trip, too.

Scientists investigating parasitic fungi that target cicadas have discovered traces of psychoactive chemicals in the infected insects, including an amphetamine and psilocybin, the potent compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The infection leads to a horrifying outcome for the host; after the fungus takes root inside the body, cicadas begin to show ‘hypersexual’ behaviors, causing males to attempt to mate with females and other males alike.

Eventually, the spores burst through the infected insect’s abdomen, ripping its genitals off in the process – and, the cicadas continue trying to mate afterwards.

Scientists investigating a parasitic fungus that targets cicadas have discovered traces of psychoactive chemicals in the infected insects, including an amphetamine and psilocybin, the potent compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The new study led by researchers at West Virginia University investigated fungal pathogens in the genus Massospora, which can be found in both periodical and annual cicadas.

Previous studies have made note of the bizarre sexual behaviours that result from the body-snatching fungus, revealing how it causes males to flick their wings like a female would to lure in other males.

By causing the cicadas to mate with both sexes, the fungus can spread its spores more widely.

‘This phenomenon is the ultimate evolutionary arms race, where the host loses because they are rendered sterile or evolutionarily irrelevant by the fungus in order to spread the spores,’ explained University of Connecticut ecology and evolutionary biology researcher John Cooley following a study released earlier this year.

In the new study, scientists have pinpointed some of the chemicals that could be contributing to the infected cicadas’ activity.

The researchers analyzed the fungal ‘plugs’ that sprout from the abdomens of infected cicadas, and found psychoactive plant and mushroom alkaloids.

Among the periodical cicadas infected with the fungus Massospora cicadina, they found the plant amphetamine, cathinone.

The infection leads to a horrifying outcome for the host; after the fungus takes root inside the body, cicadas begin to show ‘hypersexual’ behaviours, causing males to attempt to mate with females and other males alike.

The new study led by researchers at West Virginia University investigated fungal pathogens in the genus Massospora, which can be found in both periodical and annual cicadas.

And in the M. platypediae- and M. levispora-infected annual cicadas, they found the mushroom tryptamine, psilocybin.

According to the new study, these compounds could boost the cicadas’ endurance and suppress their feeding, allowing them to continue spreading spores even as their body deteriorates.

As the researchers note, the infected cicadas appear to continue on mating and flying as they would normally, despite their condition.

But ultimately, the insects die after being hijacked by the fungus.


http://35.192.208.249/20...of-hallucinogenic-drugs/

Study:

Boyce et al. 2018. Discovery of psychoactive plant and mushroom alkaloids in ancient fungal cicada pathogens. Preprint.

Quote:
Abstract

Entomopathogenic fungi routinely kill their hosts before releasing infectious conidia, but select species keep their hosts alive while sporulating to enhance spore dispersal. Recent expression and metabolomics studies involving host-killing entomopathogens have helped unravel infection processes and host responses, yet the mechanisms underlying active host transmission in insects with Entomophthoralean fungal infections are completely unexplored. Here we report the discovery, through global and targeted metabolomics supported by metagenomics and proteomics, of the plant amphetamine, cathinone, in Massospora cicadina-infected periodical cicadas, and the mushroom tryptamine, psilocybin, in M. platypediae- and M. levispora-infected annual cicadas. The neurogenic activities of these alkaloids provide a hypothetical framework for a chemically induced extended phenotype of Massospora that alters cicada behavior by increasing endurance and suppressing feeding prior to death.


https://www.biorxiv.org/.../early/2018/07/24/375105
 

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Loveall
#2 Posted : 7/28/2018 3:20:27 AM

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I do wonder sometimes if I grow mushrooms subtly directed by the mushroom itsel, imagined free will a veil of illusion.
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burnt
#3 Posted : 8/2/2018 4:56:53 AM

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I used to think mushrooms tricked me into growing them when I grew them. Makes sense. Great articles thanks.
 
ghrue84
#4 Posted : 8/22/2018 12:29:38 PM

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Should we worry about the mushrooms that we've been eating now? I want to keep my genitals.
 
downwardsfromzero
#5 Posted : 6/22/2020 6:13:39 PM

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ghrue84 wrote:
Should we worry about the mushrooms that we've been eating now? I want to keep my genitals.

If the propaganda about 'mephedrone' was anything to go by, it's the cathinone that makes them rip their genitals off Laughing




“There is a way of manipulating matter and energy so as to produce what modern scientists call 'a field of force'. The field acts on the observer and puts him in a privileged position vis-à-vis the universe. From this position he has access to the realities which are ordinarily hidden from us by time and space, matter and energy. This is what we call the Great Work."
― Jacques Bergier, quoting Fulcanelli
 
mooai
#6 Posted : 6/23/2020 6:13:16 AM

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Bancopuma wrote:
...this is a pretty nifty example of a "simple" organism wresting control of a much more complex organism and bending it to its own whims through psychoactive manipulation. In the case of psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms as well as this parasitic fungus, it also calls into its question its role in the various fungal species it is found in. If it simply acts as a deterrent, as some hypothesise, one would expect it to be concentrated in the vulnerable fungal mycelium, where it is only found in trace amounts. Perhaps it has a more interesting and mysterious role to play in these fungi, and I think this may add some credence to Paul Stamet's hypothesis that psilocybin in mushrooms may be acting as an attractant to other organisms (such as us), and so aid the mushroom in spreading its spores.


Well I guess either way Paul's hypothesis is true now if it wasn't always with how ubiquitous mushroom growing for the purpose of spiritual/recreational pursuits is. I wonder if the amount of home grown cubensis could surpass the amount found in the wild at any given time.

Loveall wrote:
I do wonder sometimes if I grow mushrooms subtly directed by the mushroom itsel, imagined free will a veil of illusion.


burnt wrote:
I used to think mushrooms tricked me into growing them when I grew them. Makes sense. Great articles thanks.


Damn clever fungi Laughing

Next article in the alien nature magazine: Fungus Discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy That Tricks Its Planet’s Dominant Species Into Cultivating It via Instilling a Pseudo Religious Zeal

Would give a whole new meaning to conscious 'plant spirits' haha. Guess I can't blame them for having their own self preservational agenda. That's simply nature. And maybe I don't care if all in all it ends up as a mutually beneficial transaction. You heal us and string us along with the mystery, we grow and spread you far and wide.

That's kind of how I see most of the plant spirit stuff anyway. If it was real, they would probably have something they want (safety of the planet, themselves, and their homes), and we can choose to have a relationship with the plant and work towards a common goal. It really does feel like I have a relationship with the plants sometimes, they can have quite the personality, especially the harmala containing ones. These articles make me wonder if some of the spirits might be tricker than others though Wink. Might it be more advantageous for the plant and the spreading of its seed both literally and memetically through our cultural mind to sing some pretty songs, paint some beautiful pictures, or give a pleasant high rather than deliver often uncomfortable spiritual truths that some may run from?

I think we are interacting with a plant consciousness on some level. Something that just can't be replicated with synthetic human creations. Today I heard there are 8 types of vitamin E, many supplements contain only 1, and too much of that 1 can block absorption of the other 7 and actually be negative. Nature keeps all of its bounties in a certain nutritional/chemical balance, and that goes for food as well as drugs. And that balance can be deceptively simple yet wildly complex, look at this beetle brain controlling super AIDs fungus that makes them gay. Even the subtle ratios of psychoactive compounds in the plants could be quite important and descriptive of an intelligence in a way we don't yet understand. I think much of it is experiencing that plant's consciousness/'personality' running through our human mind. Caapi feels a lot like an equanimious psychologist and it always gives me a fresh calm perspective, it's amazing how the chemicals in it and the psychological effect can make me feel like I'm sitting in the room with the best therapist ever lol. That much seems obvious to me but the waters start to get murky when you start throwing in very high doses and collective unconscious stuff.
 
burnt
#7 Posted : 6/24/2020 4:42:47 AM

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hah amazing
 
 
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