In a laboratory of the University of Western Virginia (WVU), a simple observation led to a historical discovery. Corinne Hazel, an environmental microbiology student, was examining some plants of Hypedomeacommonly known as Morning Glorylooking for chemicals with protective power. Among the folds of a tiny brain of the seed, he noticed a light white layer: a thin hair that would have proved to be something extraordinary.
That “fuzz” contained an unknown mushroom, what Albert Hofmann – The famous Swiss chemist who summarized the LSD for the first time, “he had been looking for almost a century. Hofmann had sensed that in the Morning Glory (or beautiful during the day) an organism was hidden in symbiosis responsible for the production of compounds similar to the LSD, but the mushroom had always escaped scientific research. Up to today.
A possible turning point for modern pharmacology
Corinne Hazel baptized the new fungal species Periglandula clandestinea name that pays homage to the secret nature of his microscopic guest. With the help of Professor Daniel Panaccioneexpert in plant pathology and its academic mentor, Hazel extracted and sequenced the mushroom DNA. The results confirmed the suspicions of generations of botanists and chemists: the Morning Glory hosts a producer mushroom of Alkaloids of the hotelbioactive compounds similar to those from which Hofmann summarized the LSD.
Panaccione commented:
Sequencing a genome is already a company in itself. That a student does it, and with such a discovery, it is truly exceptional.
The scientific implications are enormous. Alkaloids of the hotel are powerful molecules: in high doses they are toxic, but if correctly manipulated they can become essential therapeutic tools. They are already used to treat migraine, reduce bleeding and manage neurological pathologies such as Parkinson’s disease. Periglandula clandestine It could produce these compounds more efficiently and in large quantities, opening the way to new safer and more specific drugs.
The discovery born from the case
The observation that started everything happened almost by chance, as Hazel tells:
We had many laboratory plants, and they had these small peluries. It was there that we found it. I am very proud of the work done at the WVU.
The student is now trying to cultivate the mushroom, a slow -growing organism, and is questioning if other similar fungal symbions are hidden in other varieties of Morning Glory. We could only be at the beginning of a new exploration in the world of endophytic psychedelic mushrooms.
His professor adds:
It is a perfect example of how students can seize opportunities, face the challenge with intelligence and carry out research of the highest level.
It all started with a small seed and a little white hair. But it could be the beginning of one scientific revolution.
