Wood-loving magic mushrooms from Australia are saprotrophic invaders in the Northern Hemisphere.

ABSTRACT: Magic mushrooms are fungi that produce psilocybin, an entheogen with long-term cultural use and a breakthrough compound for treatment of mental health disorders. Fungal populations separated by geography are candidates for allopatric speciation, yet species connectivity typically persists because there is minimal divergence at functional parts of mating compatibility genes. We studied whether connectivity is maintained across populations of a widespread species complex of magic mushrooms that has infiltrated the Northern Hemisphere from a hypothesised centre of origin in Australasia. We analysed 89 genomes of magic mushrooms to examine erosion of species connectivity in disparate populations with support from gene flow, kinship, structure, allelic diversity, and mating compatibility. We us

SUBMITTER: McTaggart AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11736257 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature