New fungus discovered on morning glory seeds that produces lysergamides

[Gone-and-Back]

A student recently made a huge discovery regarding how morning glory seeds get their ergot alkaloids. It has been found that an almost not noticeable fungus covering the seeds is what produces the alkaloids.

I'm sure this can be expanded to do all sorts of cool things, but if the fungus can be isolated and grown, we could have a good source of lysergamides.

What are your guys thoughts on this?

Long-awaited mystery fungus sought by LSD's inventor discovered

Making a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development, a West Virginia University microbiology student has found a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD, which is used to treat conditions like depression...

phys.org

 

[blig-blug]

That explains why sometimes they've been found to not be active, then. Very interesting!

 

[doubledog]

I think this is not a new information, at least I remember that I read about endophytic fungus responsible for lysergamides in Ipomoea long time ago.

 

[kerelsk]

Worth noting they were able to grow the Periglandula clandestina on malt extract agar.

If anyone has access to the paper please post it as they may have included methods on isolation of the Periglandula on agar.

I suspect consuming the fungus or an extract sans Ipomoea seed material would be much cleaner in terms of gastrointestinal distress.

Would be nice to see this culture traded around if possible

I may try this actually on some agar for fun to see what comes of it. They mention the hypocotyl has the most alkaloid, so a sterile cross-section of a hydrated Ipomoea tricolor seed is probably the best bet to start I think.

 

[Gone-and-Back]

I think this is not a new information, at least I remember that I read about endophytic fungus responsible for lysergamides in Ipomoea long time ago.

It's been theorized before, as lysergamides are only produced by fungus. Albert Hoffman was trying to find it, but never was able to. This is the first time it's actually been seen, had its DNA sequenced, and recorded.

 

[Ruffles]

The thread of the original papers related to this is very long, this Steiner 2007 is one of the early papers. U Steiner, E Leistner, and others in Germany seem to be on the forefront of it (I might be mistaken). The discovery likely comes from practical observations that treating the plants with fungicides reduces the ergot alkaloid concentrations in the seeds (see Kucht 2004). Fungus seems to be mainly on the upper side of leaves interacting with plant glands while feeding ergot alkaloids to it... it must be on the seeds as well because it is vertically transmitted.

Currently going in this rabbit hole and I might create a thread going thru the papers chronologically of how this incredible relationship between Periglandula and Convolvulacae is being elucidated.

 

[Fungal Ethnographer]

[...] If anyone has access to the paper please post it as they may have included methods on isolation of the Periglandula on agar. [...]

here u go

 

[Fungal Ethnographer]

"No ergot alkaloids were detected in our cultures. Steiner et al. (2006) observed that growth in a differentiated plant, as opposed to callus or suspension cell cultures, was necessary for ergot alkaloid accumulation in P. ipomoeae." (Hazel & Panaccione 2025, 12)

unfortunately it seems the relationship between plant and fungus is where the magic happens, which is actually beautiful and how nature often works. We all are holobionts (a really cool concept, recommend looking it up).

 

[Transform]

"No ergot alkaloids were detected in our cultures. Steiner et al. (2006) observed that growth in a differentiated plant, as opposed to callus or suspension cell cultures, was necessary for ergot alkaloid accumulation in P. ipomoeae." (Hazel & Panaccione 2025, 12)

unfortunately it seems the relationship between plant and fungus is where the magic happens, which is actually beautiful and how nature often works. We all are holobionts (a really cool concept, recommend looking it up).

This raises the next challenge, of elucidating the cofactors provided by the plant which set the ergoline/clavine synthesis process into action. It's kind of exciting, wouldn't you say?

Also the fact that a differentiated plant appears necessary for alkaloid accumulation suggests an additional level of complexity to the process. There's still much to anticipate in this fascinating field.

 

[Fungal Ethnographer]

Its really interesting and hits very close to my academic background (more-than-human anthropology). There is a really good book on the Anthropocene (the geological era where humanity is the dominant geological factor, a still debated concept) that among other things speaks to this entangled nature of life. Our understanding of the world as composed of individuals seems to be wrong, although very profitable for the bourgeoise (yes, i still use that term, because when you say "elites" "the rich" or similar, some hear "Jews"). Imma qoute a section:

The twentieth century was a powerful time for thinking through individuals. Individuals were the ideological unit of political “freedom.” They also became the analytic motor of influential sciences, from economics to population biology. “Imagine individuals,” both scholars and pundits told us, “and you can conjure the world.” The imagined autonomy of the individual was tied to the autonomy of the species. Each species was thought to rise or fall on its own merits, that is, through the fitness of the individuals it produced. Individuals were just one kind of self-contained unit that could be summed up or divided like building blocks, from genes to populations to species—and sometimes even to nations, religions, or civilizations.
Today, the autonomy of all these units has come under question, and each question works to undermine the edifice built from the segregation of each from each. As biologist Scott Gilbert tells us, “we have never been individuals.” His “we” refers to all life; his “individuals” are autonomous species as well as single organisms. If most of the cells in the human body are microbes, which “individual” are we? We can’t segregate our species nor claim distinctive status —as a body, a genome, or an immune system. And what if evolution selects for relations among species rather than “individuals”? (Tsing et al. 2017, M71)

What we have at hand here is a beautiful example of how life actually works. Species cannot be alienated from each other and if we humans act as though they were alienable unintended consequences - usually ecological desaster - ensue. I don't think we will get to the bottom of this plant fungus entanglement. I am a scientist, but science has its place, as long as it knows its place and i think this is a secret the plant und fungus to keep.
But i absolutely invite everyone to learn about newer models of life, like "holobionts" by Lynn Margulis (the lady from the "Gaia hypothesis"). I attached the book below, its open source. the page numbers are a bit confusing, bc it has two covers and can be read from both sides. the scan starts with the "ghosts" section, highly recommend, but we are about the "monsters" here. Particularly the chapter "Holobiont by Birth: Multilineage Individuals as the Concretion of Cooperative Processes" By Scott F. Gilbert, just scroll to page M73.



I am bound to one day read some Donna Haraway or other new materialists while tripping and write a convoluted account of feminist new materialist theory XD

 

[Fungal Ethnographer]

I'm way more interested in the ergolines, themselves, which can come from any of numerous sources, including synthesis from tryptophan. After recent MG seed experimentation, I was impressed at just how smooth and LSD-like the experiences were, but I was irritated by the effect on the body. According to Nowak 2016[1], penniclavine is the predominant chemical in these seeds. Ergoclavines have been associated with ergotism[2] and furthermore have never been associated with psychedelic effects. Someone who performed home chromatography on these seeds ingested the ergoclavine section and said, "Clavine caused hard vasoconstrion, nausea and pupil dilation but lacked psychedelic value. I could understand its medicinal value due to its vaso properties without altering consciousness but as a mind expanding compound I don't see its place."[3] So, naturally, I'd really like to see what the effect is like without the clavines; it should be noted that penniclavine is not necessarily found in substantial amounts in all batches of seeds,[4] just as lysergic acid propanolamide was found in one-tenth to one-third the amount of LAA.[1]

Speaking of lysergic propanolamide (more commonly known as ergonovine and ergometrine), it's fascinating that an analog of this substance is a take-home prescription and has psychedelic effects:

"The effects of methylergonovine were nearly identical to the effects of ergonovine, about which we reported earlier. However, we found methylergonovine to have roughly five times the entheogenic potency of ergonovine; that is, our 2.0 mg dose of methylergonovine was roughly as potent as a previous 10.0 mg dose of ergonovine. Both drugs share with LSD a characteristic complex of somatic sensations."

"both methylergonovine and ergonovine evoke lassitude and a dreamy semi-narcotic state, effects previously ascribed by Hofmann to d-lysergic acid amide"

From a Journal of Psychedelic Drugs article from 1980.[5]


"No, that’s not true. Ergot contains many natural, highly psychedelic alkaloids. [Isoergine] is one of them; hydroxy-methyl-lysergamide is another one, and in fact, is considered nearly identical to LSD in effect. Albert Hofmann told me so himself. They believe that it was this derivative contained in extracts of [C. paspali] that was used in the [Eleusinian] Mysteries." –Owsley[6]

"hydroxy-methyl-lysergamide" is a reference to ergonovine, i.e., one of ergonovine's synonyms is N-(α-(Hydroxymethyl)ethyl)-D-lysergamide.[7] Furthermore, Owsley references The Road to Eleusis and ergonovine is the focus of chapter 2 in that book. Also, the "many, highly psychedelic alkaloids" comment is a giant exaggeration.


"Never had any experience with LSD but did try LSA (Morning Glory) 3 times (around 80 seeds first time, 150 second and 380 last time). People say the feelings are very similar to LSD (not sure about the visuals)."

"The feeling was very, very similar to LSA minus the bodily discomfort and anxiety. I know lysergic acids share structure with phenethylamines so dopamine activity is bound to happen I guess. But the stimulation was very noticeable in Methylergometrine compared to LSA."

SlothLightSpeed, 2024-09-22, reddit.com/r/ObscureDrugs


I've found that both ergonovine and methylergonovine are available from foreign chemical suppliers.


1. Identification and determination of ergot alkaloids in Morning Glory cultivars. Nowak J, Woźniakiewicz M, Klepacki P, Sowa A, Kościelniak P. 2016. Anal Bioanal Chem. 408(12):3093-102. doi: 10.1007/s00216-016-9322-5

See Table 3.
Concentration values for "LSH", "Lyzergol/isobars", penniclavine, and chanoclavine can be obtained by dividing the concentration values of ergine or ergometrine by their relative abundance value of the specified chemical.

2. "Clavines are thought to contribute substantially to convulsive ergotism, since C. fusiformis ergots, which possess clavines, but no [lysergic acid] or lysergyl amides, cause convulsive symptoms (26). However, the ergopeptines are known to produce similar symptoms, and are also thought to cause gangrenous ergotism (6). The occurrence of convulsive ergotism without dry gangrene suggests that other clavine or lysergyl alkaloids are involved, or that individual effects of specific ergopeptines may give clinically different syndromes (6)."

Schardl CL, Panaccione DG, Tudzynski P. 2006. Chapter 2. Ergot Alkaloids – Biology and Molecular Biology. doi:10.1016/s1099-4831(06)63002-2. [The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Biology vol. 63. pages 45–86. ISBN 978-0-12-469563-4] II. Through the Ages: A History of Ergot Alkaloid Use, Abuse, and Poisoning, p. 50

3. mrsnesbitsteaparty, 2023-10-13, reddit.com/r/LSA

Another comment of his:

"When isolating through chromatography you will notice 2 bands. First the thickest being Lsa the second being a small amount of lsh, the amount of which is dependent on how long ago the seeds where harvested from the vine. I person collect both lsa and lsh when fractioning the lysergaminde as lsh radically converts to lsa no matter what you do." (mrsnesbitsteaparty, 2023-10-13, reddit.com/r/LSA)

4. "But only 2 clavines really are in the seeds in relevant amounts: Elymoclavine and Chanoclavine.
Usually there is only a quite small amount of Elymoclavine. Most is usually Chanoclavine.
I read many times in papers that Chanoclavine."

Aum_Shanti, 2017-07-17, https://forum.dmt-nexus.me/threads/which-are-the-active-components-of-mgs.353658/post-3806693

5. Ott, J., Neely, P. 1980. Entheogenic (hallucinogenic) effects of methylergonovine. Journal of psychedelic drugs, 12(2), 165–166. doi:10.1080/02791072.1980.10471568

6. Interview with an Alchemist: Bear Owsley Interview. Bruce Eisner's Writings, Jan 10, 2004. https://archive.vn/RAUXH

7. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/443884 See 2.4.2 Depositor-Supplied Synonyms

you might wanna consult this thread: Which are the active components of MGs?

 

[Fungal Ethnographer]

Also what is important for us here is primarily:

This fungus seems to only do the magic if in relationship with its plant. If so, isolating the fungus is useful for two things, attempting to innoculate a plant (like the paper suggests) as to increase potency and just for fun.

If we are only after the alkaliods, why are we straying from the OG Claviceps purpurea, which can be cultured and produces the goods, just careful, as it also produces ergotamine, which is toxic but can be converted to LSA through partial hydrolysis (Webster 2008, 159. "The Road to Eleusis" afterword to the 30th Anniversary Edition).
If we are only after the compounds, I think this thread is on the "wrong" fungus, though I already love Periglandula clandestina and will grow some Morning Glories

 

[Transform]

[quoting magistrate101 on reddit]
LSD has a unique mechanism that causes tolerance to spike massively after a single dose, that being that the molecules effectively bind permanently to the 5ht2a receptors which forces the brain to destroy them and replace them over the course of a week

This anecdotal claim seems little better than a rumour, without referencing the actual scientific study where this finding may have taken place.

Here's what magistrate101 replied when subsequently pressed for more details, also on reddit:

Finding a specific article years after the fact is a bit of a pain but I can link a couple other articles that help paint a similar picture. The first article is about when they finally crystallized LSD bound inside the 5ht2a receptor for analysis and how that shed light on its potency, and the second article (though light on details) is about a different long-lasting psychedelic that mentions a sudden decrease in 5ht2a receptors and how long it takes for them to reemerge/be replaced. Which means that the mechanism isn't exactly unique like I first thought but that it is restricted to extremely potent and long lasting psychedelics.

This was after having initially clarified by stating:

Downregulation means that the receptors are internalised (i.e., engulfed by the cell) and then decomposed within the cell

Decomposed ≈ destroyed

It's an interesting rabbit hole that deserves to be explored and documented both more thoroughly and more precisely.