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title: "Good news, everyone! "Psilocybin, the prodrug of the psychoactive…"
date: 2019-09-28
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# Good news, everyone! "Psilocybin, the prodrug of the psychoactive…

*September 28, 2019 · Facebook*

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[https://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/scientists-create-first-psilocybin-producing-bacteria/](https://beckleyfoundation.org/resource/scientists-create-first-psilocybin-producing-bacteria/){target="_blank"}
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Good news, everyone!\
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\"Psilocybin, the prodrug of the psychoactive molecule psilocin, has demonstrated promising results in clinical trials for the treatment of addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The development of a psilocybin production platform in a highly engineerable microbe could lead to rapid advances towards the bioproduction of psilocybin for use in ongoing clinical trials. Here, we present the development of a modular biosynthetic production platform in the model microbe, Escherichia coli. Efforts to optimize and improve pathway performance using multiple genetic optimization techniques were evaluated, resulting in a 32-fold improvement in psilocybin titer. Further enhancements to this genetically superior strain were achieved through fermentation optimization, ultimately resulting in a fed-batch fermentation study, with a production titer of 1.16 g/L of psilocybin. This is the highest psilocybin titer achieved to date from a recombinant organism and a significant step towards demonstrating the feasibility of industrial production of biologically-derived psilocybin.\"
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