Psilocybin pathway

Psilocybin and psilocin are psychoactive hallucinogenous alkaloids synthesized from the small mushroom genus Psilocybe spp. On average, the concentration of these alkaloids is 300 g in 100 g of mushroom mass. Structurally, these alkaloids are neurotransmitters 5-HT. 

It is found in many cellular complexes, such as the CNS, the peripheral nervous system and the cardio vascular system, but it also appears in blood cells. 

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Once this ESR wave has been detected, it will be possible to amplify it within the neural circuits by channeling it through the harmine complex i.e., by imitating the psilocybin ESR with the voice, causing the amplified sound to strike a harmonic tone with the harmine metabolizing in the brain and thereby exciting the harmine ESR. Since harmine complexes are merely further down the same bio-synthetic pathway that converts tryptophane into psilocybin, it is possible to consider the ESR tone of psilocybin as a harmonic overtone of harmine and vice versa. 

In this pathway, L-tryptophan is enzymatically transferred to tryptamine and subsequently, through the activity of SAM, to psilocin. By the reaction of phosphorylation, psilocin is converted into psilocybin (Figure 39). 

The biosynthesis of psilocybin has not yet been fully clarified, although some details of the pathway seem to be unquestionable. First, Brack et al. (161) found that psilocybin was biosynthesized from tryptophan, and then Agurell et al. (162) demonstrated that Psilocybe cubensis effectively incorporated tryptamine into psilocybin as well. In later studies, Agurell and Nilsson (163,164), using several precursors specifically labeled with C and H, showed that tryptamine and psilocin are apparent interme-... 

The shikimic acid pathway leading to the production of chorismic acid is regulated in the cytosol of the fungal cells. Cytosol or intracellular fluid (cytoplasmic matrix) is a complex mixture of substances dissolved in water. These include ions (such as calcium, sodium, and potassium), macromolecules, and large complexes of enzymes that act together to carry out metabolic pathways. Production of chorismic acid in the cytosol is ultimately utilized in the synthesis of folate, ubiquinone, and amino acids, the most important of which is tryptophan which plays a major role in the biosynthesis of psilocybin. 

The radioactive tryptamine is observed to function as a better precursor than the tryptophan and 4-hydroxytryptophan in submerged culture of Psilocybe cubensis [113] it is reasonable to conclude that the decarboxylation of tryptophan to tryptamine is the most crucial step in the biosynthetic pathway. This step is highly sensitive to feedback inhibition due to allosteric enzymes. It is believed that as the concentration of psilocin increases in the culture media, it starts inhibiting further conversion of tryptophan to tryptamine, and as a result tryptophan will not be converted to tryptamine, and thus no psilocin or psilocybin is... 

Scheme 18.2 A proposed biosynthesis pathway of psilocybin biological activities...

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