Health

Tobacco Plant Engineered to Produce 5 Psychedelic Compounds

Are engineered plants the future of psychedelic medicine or are we ignoring the destruction of sacred species?

Published APR 2

Tobacco Plant Engineered to Produce 5 Psychedelic Compounds

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Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Facts

In their study published in Science Advances on Wednesday, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel genetically modified a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana) to simultaneously produce five psychedelic compounds: psilocin, psilocybin, DMT, bufotenin and 5-methoxy-DMT.
404 Media
NDTV
The five compounds are naturally sourced from different organisms — psilocin and psilocybin from hallucinogenic mushrooms, DMT from plants used in the hallucinogenic drink ayahuasca, and bufotenin and 5-methoxy-DMT from toads.
IFLScience
ScienceAlert
Researchers reportedly chose tobacco for the experiment because it is the lab rat of plant species and produces abundant tryptophan, the amino acid that serves as the starting material for all tryptamine psychedelics.
NDTV
Science
They used AI software AlphaFold3 to identify why a key enzyme was underperforming, and after applying a targeted mutation, the amount of 5-methoxy-DMT in the tobacco plants increased 40-fold.
404 Media
Science
The modified plants will not pass the introduced genes to future generations. "It's a little bit tricky if we have it inherited, and then people will ask for seeds," said senior author Asaph Aharoni.
404 Media
New Scientist
The study's authors noted that harvesting natural sources raises "ecological and ethical concerns," citing declining Sonoran Desert toad populations and overexploitation of Amazonian plants, and said the method could offer a more sustainable supply for research.
IFLScience
ScienceAlert

Sources Split

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RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

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ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

This is a massive leap forward for medicine. This platform turns living plants into programmable factories for psilocin, psilocybin, DMT, bufotenin and 5-methoxy-DMT — molecules that are otherwise costly and hard to obtain. Unlocking scalable biosynthesis of these compounds accelerates treatments for depression, PTSD and other psychiatric conditions.

Science

SciTech Era on X

Narrative B

The psychedelic boom is quietly destroying the sacred species that started it all. Peyote, iboga and ayahuasca vine face overharvesting, habitat loss and cultural exploitation faster than any lab can offset. Synthetic production helps, but the real fix demands sustainable sourcing, Indigenous stewardship and a hard pause on demand-driven destruction before these species vanish entirely.