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Horizontal gene cluster transfer increased hallucinogenic mushroom diversity

Hannah T. Reynolds, Vinod Vijayakumar, Emile Gluck-Thaler, Hailee Brynn Korotkin, Patrick Brandon Matheny, Jason Christopher Slot
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/176347
Hannah T. Reynolds
1Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University
2Department of Biological& Environmental Sciences, Western Connecticut State University
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Vinod Vijayakumar
1Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University
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Emile Gluck-Thaler
1Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University
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Hailee Brynn Korotkin
3Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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Patrick Brandon Matheny
3Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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Jason Christopher Slot
1Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University
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Abstract

Secondary metabolites are heterogeneous natural products that often mediate interactions between species. The tryptophan-derived secondary metabolite, psilocin, is a serotonin receptor agonist that induces altered states of consciousness. A phylogenetically disjunct group of mushroom-forming fungi in the Agaricales produce the psilocin prodrug, psilocybin. Spotty phylogenetic distributions of fungal compounds are sometimes explained by horizontal transfer of metabolic gene clusters among unrelated fungi with overlapping niches. We report the discovery of a psilocybin gene cluster in three hallucinogenic mushroom genomes, and evidence for its horizontal transfer between fungal lineages. Patterns of gene distribution and transmission suggest that psilocybin provides a fitness advantage in the dung and late wood-decay niches, which may be reservoirs of fungal indole-based metabolites that alter behavior of mycophagous and wood-eating invertebrates. These hallucinogenic mushroom genomes will serve as models in neurochemical ecology, advancing the prospecting and synthetic biology of novel neuropharmaceuticals.

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Posted August 16, 2017.
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Horizontal gene cluster transfer increased hallucinogenic mushroom diversity
Hannah T. Reynolds, Vinod Vijayakumar, Emile Gluck-Thaler, Hailee Brynn Korotkin, Patrick Brandon Matheny, Jason Christopher Slot
bioRxiv 176347; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/176347
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Horizontal gene cluster transfer increased hallucinogenic mushroom diversity
Hannah T. Reynolds, Vinod Vijayakumar, Emile Gluck-Thaler, Hailee Brynn Korotkin, Patrick Brandon Matheny, Jason Christopher Slot
bioRxiv 176347; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/176347

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