Metabolic Function Of Psychedelic Tryptamines

[Nibiru]

Metabolic Function (in plants) Of Psychedelic Tryptamines

Forgive me if this has been covered before, but my searches haven't come up with anything.

I was wondering about just what the function of psychedelic tryptamines like DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, Bufotenine etc. could be in plants. I understand that a major class of plant hormones, called auxins, are indolic compounds, and it is believed that heteroauxin (indole-3-acetic acid) is synthesized in plants from tryptamine.

This is something I've been wondering about for years, but I haven't been able to find any real in depth info on. I reckon that tryptamines in plants are likely to be intermediates or precursors in the bio-synthesis of chemicals that regulate growth and metabolism in plants, or even hormones themselves, but that's only really a hunch.

Does anybody know anything? Has any research shown anything, or is the function of these sorts of chemicals in plants still up in the air?

 

[nuke]

Generally they are probably poisons intended to kill consumers of various sorts. They don't tend to bear similarity to many of the plant hormones, for instance the closest thing might be a tryptamine but all the auxins eg indole-3-acetic acid are carboxylic acids. Evidence has shown L-Tryptophan is preferentially turned into the amide by some sort of amidase/nitrilase (since nitrilases are usually always co-expressed with amidases in order to produce carboxylic acids from amino acids). Theoretically it could also be deaminated via monoamine oxidase on mitochondria and then to oxidized to the carboxylic acid by an aldehyde oxidase. Why a plant would bother to decarboxylate to the amine and then do something weird like lots of methylation is kind of beyond me unless they were trying to deter predators.

 

[MurphyClox]

Generally they are probably poisons intended to kill consumers of various sorts.

I agree with Nuke in most parts, but call for (a very minor) correction: I think that the comparably low toxicity of most tryptamine-based alkaloids (with regard to the lethal dose) is not to kill but to deter. A predator that survives a poisoning is of greater 'use' than a dead predator.

- Murphy

 

[Nibiru]

I guess that makes a lot of sense, as plants like acacias which contain loads of tryptamines are often adapted in a number of other ways that make them rather unpalatable. Some acacias are the gnarliest, thorniest, most un-edible looking plants imaginable. Others are a lot more lush, but often contain a bunch of bitter or possibly poisonous alkaloids. Deterrence seems to be a shared evolutionary strategy of the genus, come to think of it. And low-alkaloid strains of phalaris arundinacea have been bred specifically for use as fodder crops.

I don't know why this didn't occur to me. Sometimes I find theories about certain chemicals as pesticides or deterrents in plants to be dubious, though. There have been a lot of theories about the possible functions of cannabis resin, most of which haven't convinced me of anything. But some things, like the insecticidal activity of nicotine, are undeniable.

Thanks!

 

[inverse_agonist]

These papers aren't about tryptamines per se, but they make the argument that we might have evolved drug use as a means of making up for dietary deficiencies in stressful circumstances. It fits with the relationship between stress and drug use, as well as the fact that many rewarding drugs also cause conditioned taste aversions.

Psychotropic substance-seeking: evolutionary pathology or adaptation?
Sullivan RJ, Hagen EH.
Addiction. 2002 Apr;97(4):389-400
PMID: 11964056

Ecology and neurobiology of toxin avoidance and the paradox of drug reward.
Hagen EH, Sullivan RJ, Schmidt R, Morris G, Kempter R, Hammerstein P.
Neuroscience. 2009 Apr 21;160(1):69-84.
PMID: 19233250

 

[almost-]

^ Can someone get the full articles ?

 

[MurphyClox]

Yes, both. Ask in the usual place. - Murphy