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Enhanced Detection of Toxic Peptides from Amanita bisporigera Mushrooms
Author(s) -
Mullersman Jerald,
Hardin Tera,
ParmanRyans Jaime
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.2_supplement.665
Subject(s) - amanita , mushroom , mushroom poisoning , amanita phalloides , reagent , toxin , peptide , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , botany , food science , organic chemistry
Most fatal mushroom poisonings are caused by mushrooms containing amatoxins. The amatoxins are modified cyclic octapeptides that inhibit eukaryotic RNA polymerase II. Diagnostic assays for this type of poisoning are not commonly available, in part because of the relative rarity of this poisoning event. An additional issue in North America is that while assays for amatoxins have emphasized detection of the amanitin subclass of amatoxins, some amatoxin‐containing mushrooms in North America lack amanitins but instead contain amatoxins of only the amanin toxin subclass. Therefore, there is a need to develop readily deployed diagnostic tests that can be useful in the full range of poisonings that are possible in North America, detecting both amanitins and amanins. We have evaluated the van Urk – Salkowski (vUS) TLC spray reagent for sensitive detection of the peptide toxins found in the North American mushroom Amanita bisporigera . The vUS reagent has proven to be far superior to the default TLC spray reagent, trans‐cinnamaldehyde followed by HCl fumes (cinn‐HCl). The vUS reagent yields distinctive colors and high sensitivity (detecting 1 nmol or less) for all of the peptide toxins found in A. bisporigera including the amanins, amanitins, phallotoxins, and virotoxins, while cinn‐HCl is effectively limited to the detection of only the amanitins.