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"... Researchers ... have now managed to bring together in a single organism five psychedelic substances that in nature are scattered across the tree of life.
After uncovering how plants naturally produce one of the best-known psychedelic compounds, DMT, they were able to reengineer that process step by step inside a model plant – along with four other psychedelics. The result is what amounts to a biological factory that could, in the future, be used to simultaneously produce multiple psychedelic molecules, including some that do not naturally occur in plants. ..."
From the abstract:
"Psychedelic indolethylamines with therapeutic potential are naturally produced in plants, fungi, and animals.
Here, we elucidated the complete N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) biosynthetic pathway in hallucinogenic plant species traditionally used in shamanic rituals for spiritual healing.
Leveraging the similarities in their chemical structures, we reconstructed in one plant assay the full biosynthetic pathways of five renowned natural psychedelics; psilocin and psilocybin found in mushrooms, DMT from plants, and bufotenin and 5-methoxy-DMT secreted by the Sonoran Desert toad.
We further engineered halogenated analogs of these molecules, which do not naturally occur in plants and exhibit prospective therapeutic potential for psychiatric conditions.
Blending catalytic functions across the tree of life, coupled with metabolic engineering guided by rational protein design of mutant enzymes, enabled substantially more efficient in planta production of the indolethylamine components.
This work establishes a versatile platform for concurrent biosynthesis and diversification of psychoactive indolethylamines, paving the way for their production in plants."
Fig. 3. Reconstruction of the N,N-dimethyl-tryptamine biosynthetic pathway.
Fig. 5. Metabolic engineering strategy for complete reconstruction of psychedelic indolethylamine biosynthetic pathways in N. benthamiana.
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