The species, Galerina indica, has been nicknamed the "dark magic mushroom" and was characterized in a study published Wednesday (Nov. 11) in the journal Current Biology.
Exactly why the dark magic mushroom has evolved to contain these two compounds is unclear, but the authors told Live Science that they may give the fungus a powerful defense against being eaten.
In horizontal gene transfer an organism passes new genetic material to another, as opposed to vertical gene transfer, in which a parent passes genetic material to offspring. It can lead to unexpected genetic combinations and, in bacteria, plays a key role in the development of antibiotic resistance.
The tiny mushrooms seem to have acquired both psychedelic and toxic compounds via horizontal gene transfer. (Image credit: Andrew R. Kunik)But Kunik and colleagues weren't looking for specific chemicals when they began hunting for Galerina mushrooms in the swamps of Florida; they just wanted to learn more about the mushrooms' chemical makeup, as not all Florida Galerina mushrooms had been characterized before.
Matthew E. Smith, plant pathologist at the University of Florida
Chemical analyses revealed that the dark magic mushroom contained both psilocybin and amatoxins, including one amatoxin that had never been documented in mushrooms. The new amatoxin wasn't wholly unexpected, given that other species of Galerina produce closely related amatoxins, Kunik said.
"To find them both together in one mushroom, I never expected to find that," study co-author Matthew E. Smith, a plant pathologist at the University of Florida, told Live Science. "We were shocked."
Scanning electron microscopy image of the spores from the “dark magic mushroom”. (Image credit: Andrew R. Kunik and Thomas E. Victor )
The researchers also found G. indica’s psilocybin-producing genes are arranged in a different order than in other psilocybin-producing fungi, which suggests the gene cluster was rearranged during its evolutionary history, a clue that horizontal gene transfer happened.
Gene jumping and swapping
The findings are surprising, said Hannah Reynolds, a fungal ecologist at Western Connecticut State University who was not involved with the new research. "What was exciting about this paper was seeing both of these [compounds] present, seeing that this gene cluster jumped in, got rearranged, maybe came in twice — it's very cool," Reynolds told Live Science.
Related storiesThe ability to produce two types of incapacitating chemicals could form a powerful defense against being eaten, because organisms that would normally eat them would have difficulty evolving defenses against both, Kunik speculated.
Tropical and subtropical mushrooms are historically understudied, so there is likely much more incredible fungal diversity right under our feet, Smith said.
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