dragonrider said:Hey, this might be a little off topic, but i wonder if that trick to make mushrooms produce miprocin by feeding mycelium with MiPT, would also work with cacti?
Do we know the precursor within the cactus, for mescaline, and if so, could it be injected in cacti to make them produce more mescaline?
According to this paper, the biosynthetic pathway (at least in L. williamsii) is: tyrosine (1), dopa (2) dopamine (3) 3,4,5-trihydroxy-β-phenyethylamine (4), and mescaline (5)
I am not aware of any research involved in adding other compounds as potential substrates for those same enzymes responsible for mescaline biosynthesis in cactus to produce novel compounds, or of feeding more tyrosine or dopamine to increase mescaline production. I'd be curious on our local experts' thoughts on what are the rate-determining steps in that pathway.