Sorry to say this isn't a discovery but just an idea.
Let me feel you guys in with what some of us know...
It is known that a fungi that produces ergot alkaloids lives in morning glory - it is totally dependent on the morning glory to live, and to produce ergot type alkaloids.
Considering the fact that it also needs the correct structure of the plant to produce alkaloids - and only survives in undifferentiated cells in culture but does not produce alkaloids. It would seem to be that the only possible way to produce ergot alkaloids at a decent amount would be to grow the fungi inside the seeds - as they do on the plants.
Obviously the seed and the fungi will die or go dormant at some point causing them to stop producing ergot type alkaloids. I assume this is due to lack of the needed nutrients, such as water, sugar, and small amounts of vitamins and minerals.
If you were to sterilize the seeds and place them in a solution that had something along the lines of sucrose, glucose, citric acid, succinic acid - and so on, along with the needed nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other neutrients - would it be possible for the seed to utilize these while not germinating?
If so, this would hopefully allow for the plant cells in the seed to survive, and be in the right structure to allow for the fungi with in it to grow and produce alkaloids. Naturally the fungi would be using the nutrient medium as well for its growth.
The fungi could not escape and infect the rest of the culture since its life depends on the plant cells and structure - however, the ergot type alkaloids would diffuse out into the solution and hopefully lead to the fungi producing more of the alkaloid in some sort of equilibrium.
This is of course only going to be possible in my wildest dream, but I would love to know why this isn't possible?
Can seeds, notched or not -- take in nutrients?
This would work with Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds IFF it worked with morning glory seeds. Considering the fact that the HBWR can get a ergot type alkaloid concentration of .3% (right? I need to double check) -- perhaps with this method the entire solution could reach a concentration of .3% ergot alkaloids.
That would be 3 grams per liter... 3 grams per liter 3/1 or 3000mg/1000ml - add in some acetaldehyde and you've got a strong dose of 3mg per ml of LSH <--- Ok, that might be a bit exaggerated.
Perhaps this could be thought of as an analogue of growing Claviceps in alginate spheres - instead it is a Clavicipitaceae fungi growing in seeds - that due to their structure and function relative to the fungi is acting just like alginate spheres...
The structure will matter - perhaps only the ergot alkaloids are produced while the seed is forming but isn't completely formed - if this is the case - cutting of unripe seed pods from the plant, and soaking them in the solution to take out the hormones -possibly keeping them in that state indefinitely, might be what is needed - if the fungi cannot grow properly with in the once dried seeds. Light and temperature would play a roll as well - it is likely you would not want the seed to germinate in the solution.
This would be completely insane if it got to .3% - that b
.. getting enough oxygen into the seed I am sure would be difficult, but our first concern should beam I crazy? is it possible to feed seeds in solution allowing them to keep their structure, function and metabolism allowing for the fungi to produce ergot type alkaloids?
Let me feel you guys in with what some of us know...
It is known that a fungi that produces ergot alkaloids lives in morning glory - it is totally dependent on the morning glory to live, and to produce ergot type alkaloids.
Considering the fact that it also needs the correct structure of the plant to produce alkaloids - and only survives in undifferentiated cells in culture but does not produce alkaloids. It would seem to be that the only possible way to produce ergot alkaloids at a decent amount would be to grow the fungi inside the seeds - as they do on the plants.
Obviously the seed and the fungi will die or go dormant at some point causing them to stop producing ergot type alkaloids. I assume this is due to lack of the needed nutrients, such as water, sugar, and small amounts of vitamins and minerals.
If you were to sterilize the seeds and place them in a solution that had something along the lines of sucrose, glucose, citric acid, succinic acid - and so on, along with the needed nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other neutrients - would it be possible for the seed to utilize these while not germinating?
If so, this would hopefully allow for the plant cells in the seed to survive, and be in the right structure to allow for the fungi with in it to grow and produce alkaloids. Naturally the fungi would be using the nutrient medium as well for its growth.
The fungi could not escape and infect the rest of the culture since its life depends on the plant cells and structure - however, the ergot type alkaloids would diffuse out into the solution and hopefully lead to the fungi producing more of the alkaloid in some sort of equilibrium.
This is of course only going to be possible in my wildest dream, but I would love to know why this isn't possible?
Can seeds, notched or not -- take in nutrients?
This would work with Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds IFF it worked with morning glory seeds. Considering the fact that the HBWR can get a ergot type alkaloid concentration of .3% (right? I need to double check) -- perhaps with this method the entire solution could reach a concentration of .3% ergot alkaloids.
That would be 3 grams per liter... 3 grams per liter 3/1 or 3000mg/1000ml - add in some acetaldehyde and you've got a strong dose of 3mg per ml of LSH <--- Ok, that might be a bit exaggerated.
Perhaps this could be thought of as an analogue of growing Claviceps in alginate spheres - instead it is a Clavicipitaceae fungi growing in seeds - that due to their structure and function relative to the fungi is acting just like alginate spheres...
The structure will matter - perhaps only the ergot alkaloids are produced while the seed is forming but isn't completely formed - if this is the case - cutting of unripe seed pods from the plant, and soaking them in the solution to take out the hormones -possibly keeping them in that state indefinitely, might be what is needed - if the fungi cannot grow properly with in the once dried seeds. Light and temperature would play a roll as well - it is likely you would not want the seed to germinate in the solution.
This would be completely insane if it got to .3% - that b
.. getting enough oxygen into the seed I am sure would be difficult, but our first concern should be
Clavine and lysergic acid alkaloids in varieties of morning glory .pdf