The preparation makes the poison
Mushrooms are existing in a breathtaking variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Especially in autumn, mushroom hunters are going into the forests to find the tastiest of them, prepare them in multiple ways and eat them with relish. However, it is well known that there are also poisonous mushrooms among them, and it is live saving to distinguish between them. But are these mushrooms really poisonous?
Fiber cap mushroom. (c) Dirk Hoffmeister/Leibniz-HKI
Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology โ Hans Knรถll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) have investigated this question and recently published the results of a study about muscarine. This toxin is found in various mushrooms, the best known of which is the fly agaric mushroom (๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ข ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ข), which also gave the toxin its name. However, considerably higher concentrations of muscarine are found in fiber cap mushrooms and foolโs funnel mushrooms. A team led by Dirk Hoffmeister, Professor at the Institute of Pharmacy at the University of Jena and associated with his group to the Leibniz-HKI, has now been able to show that muscarine is not only present in mushrooms as such, but it can also be stored as a harmless precursor and only be released when mushrooms got injured.
๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ป๐
Muscarine was discovered 150 years ago as the first fungal toxin. The current study was able to prove that it is stored, for example, in the foolโs funnel mushroom (๐๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ถ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ข) as 4′-phosphomuscarin, which is less toxic. โThere are indications that other substances are also present, because pure muscarine apparently has a different effect than a mushroom containing muscarine,โ says Sebastian Dรถrner, doctoral researcher in Hoffmeisterโs team. The foolโs funnel mushroom is also known as the false champignon and can easily be confused with the real champignon. Only when the mushroom is damaged by cutting, cooking or digestion, an enzyme releases the poisonous muscarine from this precursor molecule. In other mushrooms, however, muscarine is already present in its active form. It is not uncommon for organisms to show defense and protective reactions when they are damaged โ for example by being eaten by animals.
The mixture of free active and โhiddenโ inactive muscarine, which only becomes active poison when eaten, increases the danger of certain types of mushrooms such as the funnel mushrooms.
๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ
The research results have now been published in the renowned journal ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. They could help doctors and toxicologists to better assess the actual danger of certain types of fungi and treat poisoning more efficiently.
Muscarine interferes with the transmission of signals by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and leads to permanent excitation. The consequences are increased salivation and lacrimation, sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, circulatory collapse and even fatal cardiac paralysis. It is irrelevant whether the poison has already been ingested in free form or as a precursor that is only activated in the body. The correct identification of edible mushrooms is therefore still an important prerequisite for an enjoyable and carefree mushroom meal.
The work was carried out in cooperation between Dirk Hoffmeister’s team and the group led by Christian Hertweck, department head at the Leibniz-HKI and also a professor at the University of Jena. The study was funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the Collaborative Research Center ChemBioSys.
Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:
Prof. Dr. D. Hoffmeister
Pharmaceutical Microbiology
+49 3641 9-49850
dirk.hoffmeister@leibniz-hki.de
Originalpublikation:
Dรถrner S, Trottmann F, Jordan PM, Rogge K, Bartels B, Werz O, Hertweck C, Hoffmeister D (2024) The fatal mushroom neurotoxin muscarine is released from a harmless phosphorylated precursor upon cellular injury. ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202417220
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