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Identification of the toxic trigger in mushroom poisoning

Nature Chemical Biology volume 5, pages 465–467 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

We have isolated the small, highly strained carboxylic acid cycloprop-2-ene carboxylic acid from the Asian toxic mushroom Russula subnigricans. This compound is responsible for fatal rhabdomyolysis, a new type of mushroom poisoning that is indicated by an increase in serum creatine phosphokinase activity in mice. We found that polymerization of the compound at high concentrations via ene reaction abolishes its toxicity.

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Figure 1: Structures and properties.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Suda, S. Morimoto, T. Ueda and K. Yokoyama (Shiga University) for their help in collecting and identifying the mushrooms. We are grateful to F. Hashizaki (Ueno Zoological Gardens) for the help in the animal experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan

    Masanori Matsuura, Yoko Saikawa & Masaya Nakata

  2. Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd., Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan

    Kosei Inui

  3. Bioactive Molecules Research Group, Microbial Chemistry Research Center, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Koichi Nakae & Masayuki Igarashi

  4. Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, Misasagi, Yamashina-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Kimiko Hashimoto

Authors
  1. Masanori Matsuura
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  2. Yoko Saikawa
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  3. Kosei Inui
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  4. Koichi Nakae
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  5. Masayuki Igarashi
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  6. Kimiko Hashimoto
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  7. Masaya Nakata
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Contributions

M.M. performed all experiments and all data analysis, except for histopathological, antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity analyses; Y.S. performed data analysis and helped write the manuscript; K.I. performed histopathological analyses; K.N. performed antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity analyses; M.I. performed antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity analyses; K.H. was the principal investigator of the project and contributed to data analysis and manuscript writing; M.N. performed data analysis, helped write the manuscript and provided funding.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kimiko Hashimoto.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–12, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 1152 kb)

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Matsuura, M., Saikawa, Y., Inui, K. et al. Identification of the toxic trigger in mushroom poisoning. Nat Chem Biol 5, 465–467 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.179

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