Genetic Identification and Evolutionary Insights into Amanita and Psilocybe Mushrooms

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the evolution of magic mushrooms by analyzing genetic data from two different genera—Amanita and Psilocybe—both of which contain psychoactive and/or psychedelic mushrooms. We have collected samples of two species from each genera for use in our study. From the Psilocybe genus: P. Cubensis, and P. Baeocystis. From the Amanita genus we collected samples of A. Pantherina, and A. Muscaria. The goal of our study is twofold—to use genetic data to confirm the identity of mushroom samples, and then to use this genetic data and BLAST software to generate a phylogenetic tree for each sample. To accomplish this, we performed DNA isolation on a small tissue sample from each species, then on the result of our DNA isolation we used Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to amplify a segment of DNA for analysis. PCR results were sequenced by Sanger Sequencing at UBC Pharmaceutical Sciences. With the sequenced result, we used BLAST software to develop a phylogenetic tree based on existing sequencing data from GenBank. With the phylogenetic trees, we analyzed similarity between species, potential common ancestors, and speciation (how local species may differ from those found elsewhere). Our PCR protocol generated low-quality sequences for our samples, however we were able to use prior GenBank data to continue with our phylogenetic analysis.