FIVE schemes for biosynthesis of the lysergic acid moiety of the ergot alkaloids have been proposed recently. All of them involve tryptophan or 5-hydroxytryptophan as precursors 1,2.

Prior to that discovery in 1909, another fungal metabolite called Ergothioneine (ERGO), a naturally occurring amino acid that contains a sulfur atom on the imidazole ring, was discovered in Ergot ...