Amanita fungi

The amino acid 26, which has been isolated from various Amanita fungi [35], is one of the few examples of a natural product with an achiral allene moiety (Scheme 18.10) and was prepared inter alia by Strecker synthesis and also substitution reactions of allenic bromides and phosphates [36]. Recently, even unfunctionalized allenes have been found in nature seven allenic hydrocarbons 27 with chain lengths ranging from C23 to C31 were isolated from the skin of the Australian scarab beetle Anti-trogus consanguineus and related species (Scheme 18.10) [37]. Also these allenes do not occur in enantiomerically pure form, but with enantiomeric excesses of86-89% ec. 

Matoso CMM, Pombeiro AJL, da Silva JJRF, da Silva MFCF, da Silva JAL, Baptista-Ferreira JL, Pinho-Almeida F. 1998. A possible role for amavadin in some Amanita fungi. In Vanadium compounds chemistry, biochemistry and therapeutic applications, pp. 241-247. Ed AS Tracey, DC Crans. Washington, DC American Chemical Society. 

C,2H220ii,2H20. M.p. 9TC. A non-reducing disaccharide, which forms the principal carbohydrate of insect haemolymph. It comprises about 25% of trehala manna, the cocoons of a parasitic beetle. Trehalose also occurs in fungi, e.g. Amanita muscaria, generally replacing sucrose in plants lacking chlorophyll and starch. 

H Fungi - Amanita phalloides and Agaricus phalloides Cyanobacteria -Lyngbya majuscula Phalloidin, phallicidin, and amanitin - toxic peptides Majusculamide D - cytotoxic peptide Microcolin A - peptide with immunosuppressive, antileukemic and protein kinase C inhibitory activity 242... 

Fungi produce two of the most potent toxins affecting the liver. The death cap and death angel mushrooms from the Amanita family kill several people every year when they mistakenly consume these mushrooms (see case study example). 

Other species of amanita are among the deadliest fungi known. Polypeptide-like toxins in Amanita phalloides, or death cup, can prove fatal or at the very least can cause permanent liver and kidney damage. These mushrooms are common in the temperate climates of Europe and North America. They are responsible for the majority of what is called "slow" mushroom poisoning in the U.S. In fact, it was only a few years ago that the local newspaper reported a case of amanita poisoning within SLO county. Mushroom poisoning is known as mycetism. In addition the amanita also contain bufotenine which has CNS effects. See the ASIDE which discusses the peptide poisons. 

Mushrooms are spore-forming bodies of filamentous terrestrial fungi, some of which are considered to be food delicacies, whereas others, such as Amanita phalloides, Amanita virosa, and Gyromita esculenta, are very toxic, with reported worldwide deaths of the order of 100 per year.10 In extreme cases, one bite of one poisonous mushroom can be fatal. Accidental mushroom poisonings are often caused by the death s head mushroom, because it is easily mistaken for edible varieties. 

The Fly Agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria) was the earliest fungi species recognized as having psychoactive potential. It was used by shamans in Siberia and in an area along the eastern part of the U.S.-Canadian border and may have inspired the world s earliest religious text, the Rig-Veda. Panther Caps (Amanita pantherina) contain psychoactive principles similar to those in Fly Agarics, which are drawn here about half natural size. 

The earliest report found by the Wassons about Siberian Amanita muscaria practices came from a Polish prisoner of war, who wrote in 1658 about the "Ob-Ugrian Ostyak of the Irtysh region in western Siberia. Published in 1874, it says "They eat certain fungi in the shape of fly-agarics, and thus they get drunk worse than on vodka, and for them that s the very best banquet. ... 

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