In April 2024, FSQ Forensic Chemists attended Queensland’s largest mushroom growing operation. Seized items included: 219 50 L plastic tubs of mushrooms in growth medium, bags of dried mushroom material, sterilised grain bags and spores in liquid. In consultation with QPS, six exhibits were selected for illicit drug analysis. Fresh mushrooms were harvested a...
The Psilocybe genus is well known for the synthesis of valuable psychoactive compounds such as Psilocybin, Psilocin, Baeocystin and Aeruginascin. The ubiquity of Psilocybin synthesis in Psilocybe has been attributed to a horizontal gene transfer mechanism of a ~20Kb gene cluster. A recently published highly contiguous reference genome derived from long read ...
The Psilocybe genus is well known for the synthesis of valuable psychoactive compounds such as Psilocybin, Psilocin, Baeocystin and Aeruginascin. The ubiquity of Psilocybin synthesis in Psilocybe has been attributed to a horizontal gene transfer mechanism of a ~20Kb gene cassette. A recently published highly contiguous reference genome derived from long read...
In nature, there are >200 species of fungi with hallucinogenic properties. These fungi are classified as Psilocybe, Gymnopilus, and Panaeolus which contain active principles with hallucinogenic properties such as ibotenic acid, psilocybin, psilocin, or baeocystin. In Chile, fungi seizures are mainly of mature specimens or spores. However, clandestine laborat...
Entomopathogenic fungi routinely kill their hosts before releasing infectious spores, but select species keep insects alive while sporulating, which enhances dispersal. Transcriptomics and metabolomics studies of entomopathogens with post-mortem dissemination from their parasitized hosts have unraveled infection processes and host responses, yet mechanisms u...
The taxonomic identification of the biological material contained in the hallucinogenic mushrooms culture media, was carried out using a DNA-based approach, thus highlighting the usefulness of this approach in the forensic identification of illegal samples also when they are present as basidiospores mixed in culture media and spore-bearing fruiting body are ...
Light microscopical examination of plant and fungal remains in the post mortem gut may be capable of demonstrating the ingestion of unexpected natural psychotropic materials. This is demonstrated here in a case in which a 'shaman' was accused of causing the death of a young man. The deceased had participated in a ceremony which involved the drinking of ayahu...
Sixty years ago, the ethnomycologist R. G. Wasson discovered an ancient mushroom cult in Oaxaca, Mexico.1, 2 The famous mycologist R. Heim classified the psychoactive mushroom species in the genera Psilocybe and the eminent natural product chemist Albert Hofmann published the isolation, structural elucidation and synthesis of the new alkaloids psilocybin and...
The use of psychoactive substances of fungal origin for recreational purposes has become an increasing problem in many countries all over the world. These fungis known as magic mushrooms can be grown wildly however their cultural products has been marketing more often. If their wild products are mistakenly collected and eaten by someone, there is not any inf...
This study assesses the availability of websites offering to sell psilocybin spores and psilocybin, a powerful hallucinogen contained in Psilocybe mushrooms. Over a 25-month period beginning in March 2003, eight searches were conducted in Google using the term "psilocybin spores." In each search the first 100 nonsponsored links obtained were scored by two in...
Morphological and toxicological analyses were performed on hallucinogenic mushrooms that are currently circulated in Japan. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicated a three-dimensional microstructures in the mushrooms. The complementary use of SEM with an optical microscope was effective for observing characteristic tissues, such as basidiomycetes, spore...
The following questions regarding the detection of psychoactive drugs in mushrooms are addressed: At what stage of the mushroom development can the psychoactive drugs psilocyn and psilocybin be identified, and what effect does light have on the growth of these mushrooms. To answer these questions, Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield mushrooms were grown from thei...
The paper presents simple methods for microscopic examination and basic microchemical testing for the identification of suspect mushroom powders. The microscopic features of the most commonly cultivated and trafficked hallucinogenic genus Psilocybin are described and may serve for the decision whether any suspect material consists of such mushroom powder (an...
Several specimens of Psilocybe and Copelandia species in Koh Samui, Thailand were recently collected for herbarium deposit and scientific study. This paper presents an ethnomycological and biochemical study of one of the species; P. samuiensis Guzmán, Bandala and Allen, a new psychoactive gill fungus reported from Thailand. Mycelium for the cultivation of P....
