By Dr. Tim Sandle
August 16, 2025
DIGITAL JOURNAL
Cuba, reputed for supplying highly-trained medical doctors to other countries and for its advanced domestic pharmaceutical industry, has long counted vaccines and medical services among its top exports. Now it cannot produce enough drugs for its own needs - Copyright AFP/File Thibaud MORITZ
A student has made a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development. This is the tracking down of a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD.
The aim is to identify a source that could treat conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction.
The student in question is Corinne Hazel, of Delaware, Ohio, who is an environmental microbiology major and Goldwater Scholar. Hazel discovered the new species of fungus growing in morning glory plants (Ipomoea tricolor – vigorous, twining vines known for their beautiful, trumpet-shaped flowers that open in the morning and close by afternoon) and she has named it Periglandula clandestina.
The researchers dubbed the fungus “Periglandula clandestina” for its ability to have eluded investigators for decades.
Hazel made the discovery while working in the lab with Daniel Panaccione, at the WVU Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She was studying how morning glories disperse protective chemicals called “ergot alkaloids” through their roots when she saw evidence of a fungus.
Ergot alkaloids are potent α-blockers that cause direct smooth muscle contraction. The significance of the finding relates to the nature of morning glory plants, which live in symbiosis with fungi. They produce the same ergot alkaloids the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann modified when he invented LSD in the late 1930s. While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on November 16, 1938.
LSD
Lysergic acid, also known as D-lysergic acid and (+)-lysergic acid, is a precursor for a wide range of ergoline alkaloids that are produced by the ergot fungus and found in the seeds of Argyreia nervosa (Hawaiian baby woodrose), and Ipomoea species (morning glories, ololiuhqui, tlitliltzin).
“We had a ton of plants lying around and they had these tiny little seed coats,” she explains in a research brief. “We noticed a little bit of fuzz in the seed coat. That was our fungus.”
Hofmann hypothesized that a fungus in morning glories produced alkaloids similar to those in LSD, but the species remained a mystery until Hazel and Panaccione’s discovery.
Hazel and her team prepared a DNA sample and sent it away for genome sequencing. The sequencing confirmed the discovery of a new species, and the sequence is now deposited in a gene bank with her name on it.
Ergot alkaloids are made exclusively by fungi. In addition to morning glories, they are often found growing on grains like rye. These can be poisonous to humans and livestock and, when used therapeutically, can have unwanted side effects.
However, some clinicians use them to treat conditions like migraines, dementia, uterine haemorrhaging and Parkinson’s disease.
Hazel has demonstrated how Periglandula clandestina is highly efficient at making ergot alkaloids in large quantities, a characteristic that may play a role in future pharmaceuticals. Hence, the discovery of the fungus opens a host of potential research avenues.
Hazel is currently studying the most effective ways to culture the slow-growing fungus and is interested in whether other morning glory species may also contain ergot alkaloids from a fungal symbiote that has yet to be described.
The research appears in the journal Mycologica, titled “A new species of Periglandula symbiotic with the morning glory Ipomoea tricolor.”
Cuba, reputed for supplying highly-trained medical doctors to other countries and for its advanced domestic pharmaceutical industry, has long counted vaccines and medical services among its top exports. Now it cannot produce enough drugs for its own needs - Copyright AFP/File Thibaud MORITZ
A student has made a discovery with the potential for innovative applications in pharmaceutical development. This is the tracking down of a long sought-after fungus that produces effects similar to the semisynthetic drug LSD.
The aim is to identify a source that could treat conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction.
The student in question is Corinne Hazel, of Delaware, Ohio, who is an environmental microbiology major and Goldwater Scholar. Hazel discovered the new species of fungus growing in morning glory plants (Ipomoea tricolor – vigorous, twining vines known for their beautiful, trumpet-shaped flowers that open in the morning and close by afternoon) and she has named it Periglandula clandestina.
The researchers dubbed the fungus “Periglandula clandestina” for its ability to have eluded investigators for decades.
Hazel made the discovery while working in the lab with Daniel Panaccione, at the WVU Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She was studying how morning glories disperse protective chemicals called “ergot alkaloids” through their roots when she saw evidence of a fungus.
Ergot alkaloids are potent α-blockers that cause direct smooth muscle contraction. The significance of the finding relates to the nature of morning glory plants, which live in symbiosis with fungi. They produce the same ergot alkaloids the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann modified when he invented LSD in the late 1930s. While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on November 16, 1938.
LSD
Lysergic acid, also known as D-lysergic acid and (+)-lysergic acid, is a precursor for a wide range of ergoline alkaloids that are produced by the ergot fungus and found in the seeds of Argyreia nervosa (Hawaiian baby woodrose), and Ipomoea species (morning glories, ololiuhqui, tlitliltzin).
“We had a ton of plants lying around and they had these tiny little seed coats,” she explains in a research brief. “We noticed a little bit of fuzz in the seed coat. That was our fungus.”
Hofmann hypothesized that a fungus in morning glories produced alkaloids similar to those in LSD, but the species remained a mystery until Hazel and Panaccione’s discovery.
Hazel and her team prepared a DNA sample and sent it away for genome sequencing. The sequencing confirmed the discovery of a new species, and the sequence is now deposited in a gene bank with her name on it.
Ergot alkaloids are made exclusively by fungi. In addition to morning glories, they are often found growing on grains like rye. These can be poisonous to humans and livestock and, when used therapeutically, can have unwanted side effects.
However, some clinicians use them to treat conditions like migraines, dementia, uterine haemorrhaging and Parkinson’s disease.
Hazel has demonstrated how Periglandula clandestina is highly efficient at making ergot alkaloids in large quantities, a characteristic that may play a role in future pharmaceuticals. Hence, the discovery of the fungus opens a host of potential research avenues.
Hazel is currently studying the most effective ways to culture the slow-growing fungus and is interested in whether other morning glory species may also contain ergot alkaloids from a fungal symbiote that has yet to be described.
The research appears in the journal Mycologica, titled “A new species of Periglandula symbiotic with the morning glory Ipomoea tricolor.”
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