Overview
- In a peer-reviewed study in Angewandte Chemie, a team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Leibniz-HKI showed that Psilocybe and Inocybe produce psilocybin via unrelated enzyme sets.
- The researchers expressed five ips-cluster genes from Inocybe corydalina in Escherichia coli and used enzyme activity assays and LC–MS to assign each reaction step.
- Protein models by Innsbruck chemist Bernhard Rupp supported that the Inocybe route differs fundamentally from the Psilocybe pathway, demonstrating convergent evolution.
- The Inocybe pathway is branched, yielding psilocybin as well as the related metabolite baeocystin as end products.
- The authors say the newly identified enzymes expand options for bioreactor-based pharmaceutical production, while the ecological role of psilocybin remains unknown.