Ergot as an Evolutionary Filter: a Multidisciplinary Review
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Ergot (Claviceps spp.) is one of the most pharmacologically complex and historically consequential fungal pathogens in human civilisation. Its alkaloids—ergotamine, ergometrine, ergocristine, lysergic acid derivatives, and over 70 related compounds—exert potent vasoconstrictive, neurotoxic, uterotonic, and psychotropic effects. Historical epidemics of ergotism caused mass mortality, limb necrosis, hallucinations, convulsions, miscarriages, social panic, and long-term demographic disruptions. Despite vast pharmacological literature, ergot has rarely been studied as a longterm evolutionary pressure capable of shaping detoxification genetics, vascular physiology, reproductive robustness, neurochemical sensitivity, and microbiome composition. This paper integrates biochemical, microbiological, archaeological, historical, evolutionary, and astrobiological data to propose that ergot acted as a recurrent evolutionary filter across pre-modern human populations, and may serve as a universal biological barrier relevant to the Great Filter framework in astrobiology.
Author: Venditti, Davide
Language: English
Subfield: Pharmacology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213410089