Ketamine is found in nature

[Jamie01]

Ketamine can be produced by Pochonia chlamydosporia: an old molecule and a new anthelmintic? - PMC

Infection by nematodes is a problem for human health, livestock, and agriculture, as it causes deficits in host health, increases production costs, and incurs a reduced food supply. The control of these parasites is usually done using anthelmintics, ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031942223001632

Not really new but a lot of people don’t know this, and often ketamine is dismissed as just a weird lab drug.

 

[Nydex]

You're telling me all this time I could have been shaking microscopic fungi for their ketamine?!?! For real though, what a cool little discovery. Science is awesome

 

[Transform]

I'd want to see independent confirmation of this, since it seems more like a case of contamination. Maybe a lab underling had an unfortunate case of post-party drip?

 

[Transform]

Sounds more plausible. On the other hand, here was a report of tramadol (iirc) occurring in some African plant, which subsequently turned out to have made its way there via livestock urine, hence the scepticism.

 

[Cognitive Heart]

I concur! It seems much more reasonable to believe that this fungus was exposed to metabolized ketamine from livestock urine or defecation. Goes hand-in-hand with the fact that ketamine is used notoriously in veterinary care, such is the case with horses.

 

[Transform]

Having skimmed the paper, I'd be inclined to suspect cross-contamination in the laboratory. It appears they were testing anthelminthic activity of ketamine at the same institution. The fungal metabolite analysis requires replication in a rigorously ketamine-free environment.