☮ Social ☮ PD Social: Cross-dimensional chatter. Now featuring mesphereomeantoliopeme.

[Thorns Have Roses]

Is there perhaps a causative relationship between my miserable mood yesterday and the very small amount of caffeine I consumed? I wonder. Normally I have two pots of tea and maybe a double espresso (try to skip this some days for tolerance reasons and because it is a bit pricey comparatively to brew). Yesterday I had less than two cups of tea, and only lil' soda early in the day (of course we can't ignore the other chemicals present in tea and coffee).

 

[pharmakos]

^^^ makes sense to me

i had some tabs about caffeine and other xanthines up like an hour ago. i've heard the statistic before, but i reread it then... 90% of americans drink caffeine daily

still blows my mind.

 

[PepperSocks]

the government would hate you

Well, it would simply be a genetic study of a pharmacologically and historically significant plant. Research into how things work that can bring good to the world in the form of scientific knowledge is generally supported.

Anyways it's not like synthesizing a huge amount of mescaline via traditional means is all that hard. I'm just proposing an experiment to have biology do the work instead, with less toxic waste produced.

It's incredible how much organic (non-polar, petroleum, etc. not the 'pesticide-free' term) waste is produced in industrial processes.

Haha, organic vegetables; the kind the the organic molecule DDT covering it.

Inorganic vegetables; the kind not composed of carbon.

Is there perhaps a causative relationship between my miserable mood yesterday and the very small amount of caffeine I consumed? I wonder. Normally I have two pots of tea and maybe a double espresso (try to skip this some days for tolerance reasons and because it is a bit pricey comparatively to brew). Yesterday I had less than two cups of tea, and only lil' soda early in the day (of course we can't ignore the other chemicals present in tea and coffee).

Likely, caffeine withdrawal. I get headaches when I stop caffeine intake. It's the most common symptom.

When I go to bed I put a 100mg caffeine pill next to my bed so as soon as I wake up and take a gulp of water I take the caffeine pill too. Twenty minutes later when it starts working a bit I crawl out of bed. It's my morning routine.

 

[MattPsy]

It's one of my favorite psychs.

You just reminded me of something I really want to do someday. It's a big project that's going to require resources though. I want to identify and sequence the genes in trichocereus that code for mescaline producing enzymes, and recombine them into yeast (rather than E.Coli; I'm pretty sure it needs to be eukaryotic). Then one could grow a huge batch of recombinant mescaline producing yeast.

"I'm pretty sure it needs to be eukaryotic" - Not necessarily. Some of the codons might have to be changed as they might encode for the wrong amino acids (probably not; but you should consider it), and if you were to use a prokaryote (which mean you could use e. coli), you'd need to put in a different promoter/initiator sequence, in place of a TATA box or whatever upstream promoter it had before.

What method of recombination would you want to use? Chinese labs offer pretty good costs per base pair these days maybe a retrovirus?

 

[pharmakos]

Well, it would simply be a genetic study of a pharmacologically and historically significant plant. Research into how things work that can bring good to the world in the form of scientific knowledge is generally supported.

Anyways it's not like synthesizing a huge amount of mescaline via traditional means is all that hard. I'm just proposing an experiment to have biology do the work instead, with less toxic waste produced.

It's incredible how much organic (non-polar, petroleum, etc. not the 'pesticide-free' term) waste is produced in industrial processes.

Haha, organic vegetables; the kind the the organic molecule DDT covering it.

Inorganic vegetables; the kind not composed of carbon.

you'd have an easier time getting funding for, and honestly i think it would be more interesting, if you could get yeast to produce an unscheduled analogue of Mescaline

 

[PepperSocks]

Oh I learned the process a while ago, I just need a refresher. Basic principle is PCR for target sequence in trichocereus > clone into plasmid > transform into sacharomices > isolate those transformed, culture.

It needs to be eukoryatic becuase of post-transcriptional modifications. Prokaryotes don't perform post-transcriptional modifications on mRNA (splicing of exons). I would think eukaryotic cacti genes would need post-transcriptional modifications to function.

I'm sure I'm missing things in there, it's just pipe dream fodder right now. I can get into the methodology when the time comes.

 

[PepperSocks]

you'd have an easier time getting funding for, and honestly i think it would be more interesting, if you could get yeast to produce an unscheduled analogue of Mescaline

But the only good phenethylamine known to be produced by living species (which contain the required genes) is mescaline in cacti. You'd have to build a DNA sequence from bottom up to make proscaline (have fun trying that).

 

[Roger&Me]

Sweet, sweet tomacco.

 

[PepperSocks]

^ Haha, watched that one a few days ago.

"You're right, this does taste like grandma! I'll take ten." :D

A lot of genetic engineering is scary. The fact there's no more real corn left due to travelling engineered pollen, really sucks. And I have more than a million issues with a little piece of evil known as Monsanto.

My playing with molecular biology pretty much just revolves around finding drug producing genes and transforming them into culture-able quickly growing cells for fast, easy, non-toxic production.

 

[MattPsy]

Oh, so the enzymes in the pathway need post-translational modification? I have not studied the mescaline biosynthetic pathway. Why not try your hand at N-methyltransferase expression, for DMT? It's comparatively simple, and tryptamine is a very common bioprecursor.

Lol yeah its one thing to cobble together some enzymes, potentially from different pathways in different organisms, but its another entirely to get enzymes to transform novel substrates into novel products!

 

[ColtDan]

Awesome MXE experience last night, so connected to everything, headphones on, music up and beautiful vid on the screen, took me on a right adventure was amazing. uplifted, positive and glowing today

 

[whataboutheforests]

Awesome MXE experience last night, so connected to everything, headphones on, music up and beautiful vid on the screen, took me on a right adventure was amazing. uplifted, positive and glowing today

there's seriously nothing better than headphones blasting with some MXE and weed!

I'm on some MDMA right now, I reallyyyy want to do some MXE but fuck that

 

[PepperSocks]

Oh, so the enzymes in the pathway need post-translational modification? I have not studied the mescaline biosynthetic pathway.

I haven't studied the pathway either but the theory is all the same; certain cacti produce enzymes that somehow turns phenylalanine (amino acid that makes DA, NE, etc.) into mescaline. Finding those enzymes and the sequences for genes that code for them is the hard part. Once you have the sequence, you can make oligonucleotide primers to amplify (PCR, make copies of) only that specific gene which can then be inserted into another organism's genome.

I'm sure the proteins that become enzymes require post-translational modification but that wasn't the basis behind the need for a eukaryotic organism. It's the fact that the mRNA that produces the protein needs post-transcriptional modification (the splicing of exons in mRNA). Translation is turning mRNA into protein. Transcription is turning DNA into mRNA. Prokaryotes do not perform post-transcriptional modifications to mRNA, hence the need for a eukaryote (yeast is preffered, it's easy to work with and grows fast).

Why not try your hand at N-methyltransferase expression, for DMT? It's comparatively simple, and tryptamine is a very common bioprecursor.

DMT's an even neater case; humans make the stuff. Our genomes contain genes that code for DMT producing enzymes. You're right that it would be comparatively simple. I'm not sure if yeast produce tryptamine on it's own; having no nervous system I don't see the need for it. But some N-methyl transferase genes with some tryptamine producing genes, feed the stuff lots of tryptophan...

A while ago an idea crept into my head. It would be neat if there was a 'gain-of-function' mutation for the DMT synthesis pathway in humans. I'll leave you to fill in the blanks.

 

[ColtDan]

there's seriously nothing better than headphones blasting with some MXE and weed!

I'm on some MDMA right now, I reallyyyy want to do some MXE but fuck that

yeah man, especially with some decent bassy headphones, various pumping tunes, was absolutely amazing. or some tranqual tunes like chill dubstep etc, compliments it so well, especially when a hole is coming. such connected-ness. although sometimes i find MXE fucks with audio eq, keeps manipulating it and playing tricks, odd

gotta love MDMA bad experiences mixing it with MXE though.... very bad experiences. awful combo.

anyways,

oh what a beautiful moooooooorning, oh what a beautiful daaaaaaaay... ♪ nice and sunny morning here in a beautiful part of the UK. up nice n early, feeling good, few plans for the day, tonight should be amazing. got some nice goodies, life is good, spot on

only downfall is my nan is ill and is staying with us atm, think she witnessed me wonky on MXE moon walking to the bathroom in slowmo at some random point in the middle of the night, must of been an odd encounter, certainly was for me. dunno if she noticed the state of me or not shes a bit oblivious, poor lovely old dear. shuffled my way past her on the landing, got confused and turned my self around and wonked my way back to my bedroom. spent part of this morning comforting her, shes got some stomach issues and real bad vertigo n cant look after herself atm, saw her crying etc dont like seeing people i love cry. love her to bits. also and theres no beetroot left. shite state of affairs. anyways....

hope you all have a good day much love all the best

 

[sn23]

PepperSocks: I have no idea on the actual biosynthesis but one more complication that comes to mind is regulation of enzyme activity. I imagine there're at least 3 different activities involved: decarboxylation, oxidation of the ring (perhaps even 3 enzymes for the 3 positions to hydroxylate, if we suppose starting form phenylalanine/PEA instead of tyrosine/tyramine) and methylations. If we're unlucky these activities are not located in a gene for an enzyme complex (analogous to animal fatty acid synthase complex... I'm sure you get what I mean here) plus have incompatible regulative mechanisms. All totally pure speculation but a rather entertaining idea to think about

How's the studying going? Hope you're doing better than me. I decided to cram all the inorganics into my head in 2 weeks and do an exam so that I have actual holidays for Easter. Bad idea

 

[Cyanoide]

When I go to bed I put a 100mg caffeine pill next to my bed so as soon as I wake up and take a gulp of water I take the caffeine pill too. Twenty minutes later when it starts working a bit I crawl out of bed. It's my morning routine.

I once did the mistake of buying 100 mg caffeine pills from the pharmacy. I got panic attacks from 100 mg caffeine pills. I've discovered I'm hypersensitive to caffeine. Coke (the drink ) and tea is fine, but even energy drinks like Red Bull are too much.

Kind of strange because I can take speed, meth and MPA in moderate doses without any panicky feelings or anxiety. For some reason my brain can handle amphetamines in moderate doses. Cathinones are quite bad though, my brain can't handle them. 4-MePPP which I took yesterday was an exception but it was veeery smooth and nice. A bit like coke but smoother.

Anyway today I have to go through all my stuff because of the move to the new flat. I'm very excited about moving but not too excited about going through all my stuff and packing all I need in boxes etc.

 

[PepperSocks]

PepperSocks: I have no idea on the actual biosynthesis but one more complication that comes to mind is regulation of enzyme activity. I imagine there're at least 3 different activities involved: decarboxylation, oxidation of the ring (perhaps even 3 enzymes for the 3 positions to hydroxylate, if we suppose starting form phenylalanine/PEA instead of tyrosine/tyramine) and methylations. If we're unlucky these activities are not located in a gene for an enzyme complex (analogous to animal fatty acid synthase complex... I'm sure you get what I mean here) plus have incompatible regulative mechanisms. All totally pure speculation but a rather entertaining idea to think about

How's the studying going? Hope you're doing better than me. I decided to cram all the inorganics into my head in 2 weeks and do an exam so that I have actual holidays for Easter. Bad idea

Oh I imagine the mescaline biosynthesis pathway is very complex. One would have to research it and hunt down all the reactions involved before even thinking of recombining it. It would be very convenient if it was all done by one FAS-like mega-synthase. I'm usually not that lucky though

Studying's on pause at the moment. I just finished my second round of mid-terms and I'll start finals studying when April starts. For now I'm giving my brain and body some much needed relaxation. I heading to my sister's tonight for dinner.

 

[Cyanoide]

What are you people up to today (or rather tonight here)?

I've thrown away tons of garbage and packed a lot of stuff. There's not much to do anymore, fortunately!

Now I'm just enjoying a few beers and some 4-MePPP (fortunately not much left, I'm too weak to resist the temptation, stims should be kept away from me), feel quite nice right now.

 

[TheAppleCore]

^ I was going to take some 4-AcO-DPT today, but I didn't feel comfortable tripping today for some unknown reason so I'm probably just going to do some reading. Maybe finish up this book on Taoism I've been slowly chewing on, and another chapter from my chemistry text.

And also perhaps play some Skyrim with my sister.

 

[Cyanoide]

^ I was going to take some 4-AcO-DPT today, but I didn't feel comfortable tripping today for some unknown reason so I'm probably just going to do some reading. Maybe finish up this book on Taoism I've been slowly chewing on, and another chapter from my chemistry text.

And also perhaps play some Skyrim with my sister.

I, on the other hand, really feel like tripping but since I'm temporarily living at my parents house it's just not possible now. That's why I'm so excited about moving away, I can trip whenever I want. But absolutely the right decision from you, if the mindset isn't right it's best to skip tripping.

There's Easter coming in a couple of weeks which means some holidays, I'm at my brothers' house looking out for his dogs then. I'm already planning a more "serious" (as in deep and introspective, not primarily recreational) trip for then. 25I is still untested (yes I know what I've said about phens but I'm willing to give it a chance), on the other hand DPT + DMT sounds intriguing. After that there's only two weeks until I move.

Oh and for all of you tripping, time is not moving faster this night, we're just moving to summer time The impact here is HUGE, it won't become dark before 20:00, and it's just getting lighter day by day.