RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Horizontal gene cluster transfer increased hallucinogenic mushroom diversity
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 176347
DO 10.1101/176347
A1 Reynolds, Hannah T.
A1 Vijayakumar, Vinod
A1 Gluck-Thaler, Emile
A1 Korotkin, Hailee Brynn
A1 Matheny, Patrick Brandon
A1 Slot, Jason Christopher
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/16/176347.abstract
AB 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.