Florida's 'dark magic' mushrooms have a deadly combination of chemicals never seen before
Chemical analyses revealed that the dark magic mushroom contained both psilocybin and amatoxins, including one amatoxin that had never been documented in mushrooms.
Key points
- But Kunik and colleagues weren't looking for specific chemicals when they began hunting for Galerina mushrooms in the swamps of Florida; they just wanted to learn more about the mushrooms' chemical makeup, as not all Florida Galerina mushrooms had been characterized before.
- Common evolutionary trick, rare combination The ability to produce either psychedelic or toxic chemicals has evolved multiple times across fungal lineages.
- The species, Galerina indica, has been nicknamed the "dark magic mushroom" and was characterized in a study published Wednesday (Nov.
A tiny brown mushroom found in Florida's swamps is the first known fungus to contain both psilocybin, the chemical compound in psychedelic mushrooms; and amatoxin, the poisonous substance in the world's deadliest mushrooms.
Additional details
- Past work has shown these mushrooms shared the ability to produce their poisonous amatoxins via horizontal gene transfer with mushrooms from the unrelated genera Galerina and Lepiota.
- indica with those of other psilocybin-producing mushrooms, finding the genes shared a common evolutionary origin — even though the mushrooms themselves are distantly related.
- Scanning electron microscopy image of the spores from the “dark magic mushroom”.
- "We were shocked." To understand how the tiny, deadly mushroom acquired its mind-altering, liver-poisoning abilities, the team compared the genes of G.
- Kunik) Some of the world's deadliest mushrooms, from the Amanita genus, stop cells from producing proteins and can cause death through liver failure.
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