One person’s hallucinogenic drug is another person’s antidepressant.
Scientists at Miami University discovered a way to genetically engineer bacteria from the psilocybin (or “magic”) mushroom to help treat depression.
If ingested, the fungus breaks down to produce psilocin, which has mind-altering effects similar to LSD, mescaline, and DMT.
Despite being illegal in the US for more than 40 years, the psychoactive stimulant has gained attention recently for its unexpectedly positive impacts.
Currently in clinical trials, psilocybin has shown promising results in patients with addiction, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
But mass production of the chemical from its natural mushroom host requires extensive real estate and time, while synthetic chemical production methods are very expensive.
Study lead Andrew Jones, an assistant professor at the Ohio-based university, wanted a solution that maintains biological integrity and reduces production costs.
The answer, he found, is metabolic engineering.
Alexandra “Lexie” Adams helps develop a way to genetically engineer mushroom bacteria (via Miami University)
By finding ways to increase a cell’s ability to produce a compound of interest, Jones’ team of students developed a series of experiments to identify optimal psilocybin production conditions.
A paper published recently by the journal Metabolic Engineering details their 18-month-long study to optimize production of psilocybin in the E. coli bacteria.
“We are taking the DNA from the mushroom that encodes its ability to make this product and putting it in E. coli,” Jones explained. “It’s similar to the way you make beer, through a fermentation process.”
Chemical engineering student and study co-author Alexandra Adams remembers the first breakthrough in their research.
“Once we transferred the DNA” from the mushroom, “we saw [a tiny] peak emerge in our data,” she said in a statement. “We knew we had done something huge.”
The end result marks a huge step toward proving the feasibility of producing this drug economically from a biological source.
Adams and co-author Nicholas Kaplan, also a chemical engineering major, continue to work with Jones, leading projects that build on their recent psilocybin success.
Jones, meanwhile, is pursuing the next phase of his research by studying ways to make the E. coli bacteria a better host—the next step toward enabling sustainable production at levels required by the pharmaceutical industry.
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