US EditionTobacco Plant Engineered to Produce 5 Psychedelic Compounds
The modified Nicotiana benthamiana plants produced DMT, psilocin, psilocybin, bufotenin and 5-MeO-DMT, giving researchers a possible new source for studies.
- Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science engineered Nicotiana benthamiana tobacco plants to simultaneously produce five psychedelic compounds—DMT, psilocybin, psilocin, bufotenin, and 5-MeO-DMT—reported in Science Advances.
- Traditionally, psychedelic supply relies on plants, fungi, and the Sonoran Desert toad, which face habitat loss and overexploitation. Professor Asaph Aharoni of the Weizmann Institute warned that harvesting these organisms risks depleting threatened populations.
- Utilizing a technique called agroinfiltration, the team introduced nine genes into the plants, which then manufactured the required proteins. The introduced DNA does not integrate into the plant's genome, making the modification non-heritable.
- Biochemist Paula Berman noted the approach could provide a reliable, eco-friendly supply for mental health research. "We realized that we had a big opportunity to reconstruct all these pathways in one plant," she said.
- While bioengineer Andrew Jones of Miami University suggests microbes might ultimately prove more practical for industrial production, researchers are currently exploring how to process the plants for extraction and scale the system.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Engineered tobacco plant can produce five psychedelics, including psilocybin and DMT
Compounds in psychedelic drugs like DMT, psilocybin, and psilocin are naturally produced in certain plants, fungi, and animals, and have a long history of use in spiritual and therapeutic contexts. Now, a considerable amount of research is going into determining how these compounds can be translated into a therapeutic context for several mental health conditions. But to do this, researchers need to find a more sustainable way to source these com…
Scientists Engineered a Plant to Produce 5 Different Psychedelics at Once
What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances – and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet. In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously. As interest grows in psychedelics as pot…
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