Naslov
DNA ANALYSIS OF SCARCE FUNGAL SAMPLES INDICATES THEIR PSYCHOACTIVE ORIGIN

Autori
Horjan Zanki, Ivana ; Ledić Andrea ; Makar Adela

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Journal of Bioanthropology / Marjanović, Damir ; Dodigović, Lucija - Zagreb : ISABS 2022 and IAR publishing, 2022, 250-250

ISBN
978-953-57695-4-5

Skup
12th ISABS Conference on Forensic and Anthropologic Genetics and Mayo Clinic Lectures in Individidualized Medicine

Mjesto i datum
Dubrovnik, Hrvatska, 22.06.2022. - 27.06.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
"spore print", "truffles", DNA sequencing, ITS, LSU

Sažetak
The majority of psychoactive fungi contain psilocybin (PY) and psilocin (PI), latter causes LSD-like psychoactive effects but lesser in intensity. PY and PI are illegal in Croatia and most of EU countries, while fungi as their source are mainly excepted. Since PY/PI are not yet synthesized in fungal spores and sclerotia (“truffles”), drug users increasingly buy them via Internet without legal consequences. Furthermore, established toxicology and morphology methods are useless on these kind of samples. Hence, main goal of this study was to present the usefulness of DNA analysis on abovementioned forensic samples in order to confirm its psychoactive origin. Study addressed sequencing of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear DNA and large portion of 28S gene (nuclear-encoded large subunit ribosomal RNA genes, nLSU-rDNA). ITS region enables unambiguous identification of fungal species while part of LSU gene from 5' end enables distinguishing between closely related psychoactive and non-psychoactive species. DNA from total of 14 “spore-print“ and „truffle“ samples seized on Croatian territory (2010-2014), were isolated and ITS region and large portion of 28S gene (nLSU-rDNA) were sequenced. ITS and LSU sequences were obtained from 11 out of 14 tested samples with haplotypes congruent to GenBank database sequences of psychoactive species Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe mexicana. One out of 14 samples most probably represents a mixture of these two, and for the two remaining samples only ITS haplotype was obtained, matching those of P. cubensis. As previously published, P. cubensis varieties are most popular among users due to their proven potency and are easy growing. Applied DNA method can be easily implemented into routine forensic workflow. The latter legislation update, i.e. to include fungi species/body parts as the source of psychoactive substances could lead to continuing decrease of illegal fungi drug abuse.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biotehnologija u biomedicini (prirodno područje, biomedicina i zdravstvo, biotehničko područje)

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