By Timothy S. Donahue

Top Takeaways:

• Biotech breakthrough: Scientists genetically modified tobacco to produce several psychedelic compounds in one plant.
• Pharma potential: The approach could streamline drug manufacturing and reduce reliance on fragile natural resources.
• Regulatory tension: Researchers avoided permanent genetic modifications, emphasizing worries about misuse and regulation of drug-producing crops.

Scientists have engineered tobacco plants (Nicotiana benthamiana) to produce five psychedelic compounds usually found in mushrooms, plants, and even amphibians. This breakthrough could change how certain pharmaceuticals are made.

The research, led by Asaph Aharoni at the Weizmann Institute of Science and highlighted by New Scientist, used agroinfiltration, a technique that introduces genes into plants via bacteria without permanently changing their DNA. The modified plants temporarily produce the proteins encoded by those genes, allowing researchers to create target compounds without producing inheritable traits.

By adding nine genes, the tobacco plants produced psilocybin and psilocin, compounds found in psychedelic mushrooms, along with dimethyltryptamine (DMT), bufotenin, and 5-methoxy-DMT. The latter compounds are also associated with secretions from the Colorado River toad.

The ability to produce multiple complex compounds in a single crop is a significant technical achievement, especially as interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics grows. Researchers note that harvesting these compounds from nature can put additional stress on ecosystems already threatened by habitat loss and overexploitation, while synthetic production remains expensive and technically difficult.

Tobacco, by contrast, provides a familiar and scalable platform. The plant grows rapidly, is well understood, and can be cultivated in controlled greenhouse environments, making it an appealing choice for pharmaceutical production.

The idea itself isn’t new. Plant-based drug production—often called “pharming”—has been developing for decades, with plant-derived pharmaceutical proteins approved in the United States since 2012. Past research has also shown that tobacco can be engineered to produce other controlled substances, including small amounts of cocaine.

Rupert Fray from the University of Nottingham stated that the breakthrough shows both technical ability and wider potential. “If you want to understand something, you’ve got to be able to build something,” Fray said. “As a technical accomplishment, to show that you understand the pathways and can do it, I think it has value.”

The choice not to make the genetic modifications permanent was deliberate. Aharoni admitted that inheritable changes could raise concerns about access and misuse, especially since the compounds involved are often linked to recreational drug use. “It’s a little bit tricky if we have it inherited, and then people will ask for seeds,” he said, noting similar techniques could theoretically be applied to crops like tomato, potato or corn.

Tobacco has a dual history that spans centuries, evolving from early indigenous and European medicinal uses as a painkiller and cure-all to modern, high-tech “molecular farming” where tobacco plants produce vaccines and therapeutic proteins. Today, genetically modified tobacco acts as a fast, cost-effective bio-factory for drugs like ZMapp (Ebola).

Researchers use Nicotiana benthamiana as a “bio-factory” because it is a fast-growing, non-food plant highly susceptible to pathogens, making it ideal for rapid, high-level production of recombinant proteins and pharmaceuticals, according to media reports. Its compromised immune system allows for efficient transient expression, producing valuable proteins within days via agroinfiltration.