Potential benefits and harms: a review of poisonous mushrooms in the world

Mushrooms have long been considered as delicacies as well as used as important dietary supplements and food. However, there are major concerns with poisonous mushrooms as these pose threats to public health and safety. In this paper, we provide a review focusing on poisonous mushrooms, their toxins, symptoms and utilizations. In addition, this paper establishes a poisonous mushroom list which includes 643 species from two phyla, 16 orders, 51 families and 148 genera. The toxicity of all these species was verified and 332 species were ranked as P1 signifying that these species have toxic studies and or clinical poisoning case records and 311 species were P2 meaning they had previously been recorded as poisonous in other studies. Furthermore, we discuss advances in technology including how genomic studies could be used as a breakthrough tool in the field of toxic mushrooms. With this comprehensive review, we aim to promote public awareness of poisonous mushrooms, including how to avoid mushroom poisoning, and how to better utilize poisonous mushroom resources.     

云南蘑菇中毒事件中的毒蘑菇物种多样性

近年来,云南省每年发生超过500起蘑菇中毒事件,造成2 000余人中毒,约30人死亡,成为我国蘑菇中毒危害最为严重的省份。系统研究蘑菇中毒事件中的毒蘑菇多样性,可以为蘑菇中毒精准防控提供科学依据和技术支撑。本研究对云南省2013年以来开展过科学物种鉴定的223起中毒事件进行了系统分析,发现云南省蘑菇中毒一年四季均有发生,主要集中在6-9月份,中毒事件数和中毒人数7月份达到高峰,而6月份死亡人数最多。地区分布分析发现云南省蘑菇中毒事件涉及14个市州,中毒事件数前5位分别为德宏、玉溪、保山、楚雄和普洱,均位于云南中部及以南地区。223起中毒事件中共成功鉴定出47种毒蘑菇,分属6种中毒类型(急性肝损害型、急性肾衰竭型、横纹肌溶解型、胃肠炎型、神经精神型和光敏性皮炎型)。这些毒蘑菇包含发现于中国的新物种16种,以及2019年以来发现的中国新记录种3种。致命鹅膏Amanita exitialis和亚稀褶红菇Russula subnigricans分别造成19人和9人死亡,是云南省最危险的2种剧毒蘑菇。青褶伞Chlorophyllum molybdites、日本红菇R. japonica、光硬皮马勃Scleroderma cepa、近江粉褶菌Entoloma omiense和发光类脐菇Omphalotus olearius位列胃肠炎型中毒的前5位。热带紫褐裸伞Gymnopilus dilepis、毒歧盖伞近似种Inosperma cf. virosum和兰茂牛肝菌Lanmaoa asiatica位列神经精神型中毒的前3位。叶状耳盘菌Cordierites frondosus是目前云南省造成光敏性皮炎型中毒的唯一物种。     

2000年以来有毒蘑菇研究新进展

误食毒蘑菇而中毒一直被认为是一个对人类健康造成威胁的全球性问题,也是我国食物中毒事件中导致死亡的最主要因素。对2000年以来在有毒蘑菇新种类、新毒素与新症状、有毒蘑菇鉴定及毒素检测新方法、有毒蘑菇中毒机理、毒素基因克隆、中毒治疗以及鹅膏肽类毒素治疗肿瘤等领域取得的新进展进行了综述,并对一些热点研究领域做了展望。     

Declining Wild Mushroom Recognition and Usage in Burkina Faso

Declining Wild Mushroom Recognition and Usage in Burkina Faso. Ethnomycological investigation was carried out in Burkina Faso, West Africa, using standardized interviews focused on 40 representative mushroom species assembled in a traveling herbarium (photographs plus preserved specimens). A total of 540 informants from 18 localities representing three main ethnic groups—Mòosé, Bobo, and Gouin—were interviewed, though the bulk of those interviewed were Mòosé (or Mossi) from the more populous central region of the country. Among the study species, as many as 24 were considered edible by the different ethnic groups; a few medicinal uses also were noted. The edibility of a common Chlorophyllum species is confirmed for the three ethnic groups. Mushroom nomenclature is not well developed in any of the three groups as evidenced by the fact that many mushrooms, including some common edible species, do not appear to have specific local names, but are instead simply referred to by a general term for “mushroom.” Preliminary observations about inter–ethnic variation in recognition, naming, and appreciation of mushrooms are noted. Older people recognized many more mushroom species than did younger people, and women appeared to be slightly more knowledgeable about mushrooms than men. The most important finding is that the gathering and consumption of wild edible mushrooms seems to be dying out in Burkina Faso, especially in the central part of the country, apparently because of declining mushroom populations resulting from disappearing forest habitats. NOTE TO VENDOR: In place of the corresponding author, send proof to this paper’s editor, David Aroro, maxfun @cruzio.com     

Current findings,future trends,and unsolved problems in studies of medicinal mushrooms

The target of the present review is to draw attention to many critically important unsolved problems in the future development of medicinal mushroom science in the twenty-first century. Special attention is paid to mushroom polysaccharides. Many, if not all, higher Basidiomycetes mushrooms contain biologically active polysaccharides in fruit bodies, cultured mycelium, and cultured broth. The data on mushroom polysaccharides are summarized for approximately 700 species of higher Hetero- and Homobasidiomycetes. The chemical structure of polysaccharides and its connection to antitumor activity, including possible ways of chemical modification, experimental testing and clinical use of antitumor or immunostimulating polysaccharides, and possible mechanisms of their biological action, are discussed. Numerous bioactive polysaccharides or polysaccharide–protein complexes from medicinal mushrooms are described that appear to enhance innate and cell-mediated immune responses and exhibit antitumor activities in animals and humans. Stimulation of host immune defense systems by bioactive polymers from medicinal mushrooms has significant effects on the maturation, differentiation, and proliferation of many kinds of immune cells in the host. Many of these mushroom polymers were reported previously to have immunotherapeutic properties by facilitating growth inhibition and destruction of tumor cells. While the mechanism of their antitumor actions is still not completely understood, stimulation and modulation of key host immune responses by these mushroom polymers appears central. Particularly and most importantly for modern medicine are polysaccharides with antitumor and immunostimulating properties. Several of the mushroom polysaccharide compounds have proceeded through phases I, II, and III clinical trials and are used extensively and successfully in Asia to treat various cancers and other diseases. A total of 126 medicinal functions are thought to be produced by medicinal mushrooms and fungi including antitumor, immunomodulating, antioxidant, radical scavenging, cardiovascular, antihypercholesterolemia, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, antifungal, detoxification, hepatoprotective, and antidiabetic effects.     

广东已知毒蘑菇种类

广东毒蘑菇种类有112种,分别隶属于子囊菌门(Ascomycota)的1科1属和担子菌门(Basidiomycota)的18科41属。其中种类最多的是鹅膏属(Amanita),有20种,占17.8%;其次为红菇属(Russula),有10种,占8.9%;第3是丝盖伞属(Inocybe),有8种,占7.1%。致命鹅膏(Amanitaexitialis)、铅绿褶菇(Chlorophyllum molybdites)和粗柄白鬼伞(Leucocoprinuscepaestipe)等是近几年在广州引起中毒的常见毒蘑菇种类,其中致命鹅膏的中毒死亡率最高。     

The immunobiology of mushrooms

There has been enormous interest in the biologic activity of mushrooms and innumerable claims have been made that mushrooms have beneficial effects on immune function with subsequent implications for inhibition of tumor growth. The majority of these observations are anecdotal and often lack standardization. However, there remains considerable data on both in vitro and in vivo effects that reflect on the potential of mushroom compounds to influence human immunity. A number of these effects are beneficial but, unfortunately, many responses are still characterized based on phenomenology and there is more speculation than substance. With respect to tumor biology, although many neoplastic lesions are immunogenic, tumor antigens frequently are self antigens and induce tolerance and many patients with cancer exhibit suppressed immune responses, including defective antigen presentation. Therefore, if and when mushroom extracts are effective, they more likely function as a result of improved antigen presentation by dendritic cells than by a direct cytopathic effect. In this review we attempt to place these data in perspective, with a particular focus on dendritic cell populations and the ability of mushroom extracts to modulate immunity. There is, at present, no scientific basis for the use of either mushrooms or mushroom extracts in the treatment of human patients but there is significant potential for rigorous research to understand the potential of mushrooms in human disease and thence to focus on appropriate clinical trials to demonstrate effectiveness and/ or potential toxicity.     

2012年食用菌“平菇甲醛”事件浅析

对2012年4月媒体报道的青岛平菇中检测发现甲醛所引发的争论进行了剖析。综合分析国内外对食用菌和其他天然食品中甲醛含量的研究结果,以及甲醛自身的理化特性,作者认为食用菌中含有微量甲醛是食用菌自身新陈代谢的产物,从食品安全的角度考虑是安全的。文中介绍了国内外对部分食用菌中甲醛含量的测定、代谢机理和风险评估情况,其中食用菌甲醛的代谢机理值得进一步关注和探讨。     

Diagnosis and Treatment of Amanita Phalloides-Type Mushroom Poisoning: Use of Thioctic Acid

The number of cases of mushroom poisoning is increasing as a result of the increasing popularity of “wild” mushroom consumption. Amanitin and phalloidin cytotoxins found in some Amanita and Galerina species produce the most severe and frequent life-threatening symptoms of Amanita phalloidestype poisoning. Delay in onset of symptoms, individual susceptibility variation and lack of rapid and reliable identification have contributed to the significant morbidity and mortality of this type of poisoning.A rapid chromatographic assay for identifying the potent cytotoxins and apparently successful management using thioctic acid of two cases of A. phalloides-type mushroom poisoning are reported. All known cases of A. phalloides-type mushroom poisoning treated with thioctic acid in the United States are summarized.     

Effect of the fungal pathogen Verticillium fungicola on fruiting initiation of its host, Agaricus bisporus

Dry bubble disease caused by the fungal pathogen Verticillium fungicola¹ is responsible for large losses to the mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) industry. The pathogen induces various symptoms on the host, bubbles (undifferentiated spherical masses), bent and/or split stipes (blowout) and spotty caps. Inoculation of A. bisporus crops with isolates of V. fungicola var. fungicola of various degrees of aggressiveness showed that the more aggressive isolates induced higher numbers of bubbles. The production of other symptoms did not vary with the isolate of pathogen. The total weight of the crop (healthy and diseased mushrooms) was not significantly affected by the disease, but inoculation with highly aggressive isolates resulted in a significant increase in the total numbers of mushrooms. Two hypotheses are proposed to explain the effect of the pathogen on fruiting initiation in relation to aggressiveness.     

Pseudomonas tolaasi in Mushroom Crops: A Note on Primary and Secondary Sources of the Bacterium on a Commercial Farm in England

Primary sources of Pseudomonas tolaasi Paine on a mushroom farm were the peat and limestone used in the casing process. The pathogen could not be detected in the farm soil, water supply, the mushroom spawn used, or in compost after spawning, but was isolated from the casing (peat/limestone mixture) layer of symptom-free mushroom beds and both the casing layer and compost of beds bearing diseased mushrooms. Secondary sources were numerous once the pathogen was present in mushroom beds. These included symptomless and diseased mushrooms, the fingers and shoes of people handling the crop, their baskets, knives and ladders. Ps. tolaasi could be isolated from dust in the air in infected houses and also from floors. Spores of infected mushrooms may transport the bacterium, as did sciarid flies and mites which are common pests of mushroom crops.     

真菌系统学大趋势：越来越多的分类单元

分子生物学技术与真菌系统学的有机融合,为真菌分类和系统发育研究带来了革命性的变化。最近20年来,真菌学家们建立了大量的新目、新科、新属和新种,掀开了真菌多样性及其起源进化研究的新纪元,但很多重要的系统发育问题仍没有解决,特别是大量目间、科间的亲缘关系并不清楚。细分是真菌系统学的主流趋势,野生食用菌和毒蘑菇的分类也是如此,近年涌现了越来越多的新分类单元,如在2010-2019年的10年间,中国发表大型真菌（含地衣）新种1 240余个。本专刊收载的15篇论文是对我国野生食用菌和毒蘑菇研究工作的部分总结,对真菌资源利用、毒蘑菇中毒预防与治疗具有较重要的科学意义和应用价值。     

Mushrooms, tumors, and immunity: an update

There is significant interest in the use of mushrooms and/or mushroom extracts as dietary supplements based on theories that they enhance immune function and promote health. To some extent, select mushrooms have been shown to have stimulatory action on immune responsiveness, particularly when studied in vitro. However, despite their widespread use for potential health benefits, there is a surprising paucity of epidemiologic and experimental studies that address the biologic activities of mushrooms after oral administration to animals or humans. There have been a number of studies that have addressed the ability of mushrooms to modulate mononuclear cell activation and the phenotypic expression of cytokines and their cognate receptors. There have also been a number of attempts to determine antitumor activities of mushrooms. Such studies are important because many of the components of mushrooms do potentially have significant biologic activity. All data, however, should be tempered by the possibility that there are toxic levels of metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury as well as the presence of radioactive contamination with 137Cs. In this review, we will present the comparative biology with respect to both immunological and antitumor activities of mushroom extracts and also highlight the need for further evidence-based research.     

Explaining Dioscorides' "double difference": why are some mushrooms poisonous, and do they signal their unprofitability?

The adaptive significance of toxins in mushrooms has received very little consideration, although it is clear that poisons have appeared (and/or disappeared) many times in mushrooms' evolutionary history. One possibility is that poisons have evolved in some mushroom species to deter their consumption by would-be fungivores before spore dispersal. If this is so, then one might expect poisonous mushrooms to signal their unprofitability in some way. In this study, we have conducted the first formal analysis of the ecological and morphological traits associated with edible and poisonous mushrooms in North America and Europe. Poisonous mushrooms do not tend to be more colorful or aggregated than edible mushrooms, but they are more likely to exhibit distinctive odors even when phylogenetic relationships are accounted for. This raises the intriguing possibility that some poisonous species of mushrooms have evolved warning odors (and perhaps tastes) to enhance avoidance learning by fungivores.     

Airborne allergenic microorganisms associated with mushroom cultivation

Exposure to microorganisms, including thermophilic actinomycetes and fungal spores, and to airborne dust produced during compost production and mushroom picking may cause work-related respiratory symptoms. Previous studies have implicated Thermoactinomyces vulgaris and Faenia rectivirgula, the aetiological agents in farmer's lung disease, as causes of these symptoms but these species have been rare in aerobiological studies of mushroom farms. As part of a study of the respiratory health of the exposed workers, we carried out an aerobiological survey of all the stages of commercial mushroom production. Samples of viable airborne microorganisms were collected at a farm from eight locations on two occasions using Andersen cascade impactors. Large numbers of airborne thermophilic actinomycetes, yielding > 10⁶ colony-forming units (cfu) m^?3 air sampled, were associated with compost handling. These were predominantly Thermomonospora spp., while Thermoactinomyces spp. and Faenia rectivirgula were few. Because the compost was largely undisturbed, few airborne actinomycete spores were found in mushroom growing houses, but concentrations of fungal spores exceeded 10⁵ cfu m^?3 when mushrooms were being harvested. Most were Penicillium spp. and Aspergillus fumigatus but Peziza ostracoderma and Trichoderma spp. were also isolated. Workers are thus exposed to a wide range of airborne microorganisms, but the role of many of these in mushroom workers' respiratory symptoms is not yet fully understood.     

Effects on Tyrosinase Activity by the Extracts of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ganoderma lucidum</Emphasis> and Related Mushrooms

The inhibitory effects on tyrosinase activity by extracts of several mushrooms belonging to Basidiomycetes were evaluated. Among the tested mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum, Antrodia camphorata, Agaricus brasiliensis, and Cordyceps militaris), G. lucidum exhibited significant inhibition of tyrosinase activity (IC(50) value 0.32 mg/ml), compared to those prepared from other Basidiomycetes. Tyrosinase inhibitors are effective components of skin-lightening compounds and other cosmetics; currently many of the facial mask cosmetics in the market contain Ganoderma extracts in their ingredients. The finding that mushroom extracts contain tyrosinase activity inhibition will contribute to better understanding of how their 'healing' properties in various Chinese traditional herbal on skin care products.     

Nested subset structure of larval mycophagous fly assemblages: nestedness in a non-island system

Nested subset structure has been studied in archipelagoes and fragmented habitats, and has been attributed to differential colonization and extinction rates among species and nested environmental tolerances. In this experiment, we tested for nestedness in assemblages of mycophagous fly larvae. Twenty mushrooms in each of three size classes (4.8–6.0 g, 10–15 g, 21–32 g) were placed on moist potting soil in experimental cups. The cups were placed in oak and pine forests in Greenville, S.C., USA for 5 days, where they were available to ovipositing flies. Upon collection, the mushrooms were incubated in the laboratory for 3 weeks and all emerging flies were sorted by species, counted, and weighed. A random placement analysis was conducted to determine whether the species richness pattern was a sampling artifact of the species abundance distributions. The actual species richness pattern did not conform to the random placement model; most mushrooms contained significantly fewer species than predicted by random sampling. The communities were strongly nested as measured by two different indices, and the nestedness pattern was related to mushroom size. Small mushrooms usually produced no flies or a single species, Dohrniphora sp. (Phoridae). Medium and large mushrooms typically produced more species-rich communities that usually contained the phorid and Drosophila putrida, D. tripunctata, and Leucophenga varia. This core guild was nested within a more diverse assemblage that included D. falleni, Mycodrosophila dimidiata, a muscid, and two Leptocera sp. (sphaeroceridae). These patterns are tentatively explained in the context of nested desiccation tolerances, mediated by differences in mushroom size.     

Effects of Caenorhabditis elegans (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) on yield and quality of the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus

Thirteen species of saprobic rhabditid nematodes (11 genera) were identified from samples of compost and casing material collected from mushroom farms in the British Isles. Caenorhabditis elegans, the most frequently found saprobe, was mass-produced monoxenically and its effects on the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus (strain U3) were studied. C. elegans did not multiply in well-prepared, pasteurised, spawned compost, whereas casing material proved to be a highly suitable environment for its reproduction. An initial casing inoculum of 10⁶ nematodes/crate of compost (7.5 kg), caused a significant reduction in mushroom yield. Losses in total mushroom yields of 11%, 20% and 26% were caused by initial inoculum rates of 10⁶, 10⁷and 2 × 10⁷ nematodes/crate, respectively. Yields were negatively correlated with the initial nematode inoculation level and regression equations were derived. The nematode treatments caused fewer mushrooms to be produced and an absence of the usual distinctive flushing patterns. C. elegans caused considerable deterioration in mushroom quality and characteristic distortion of mushrooms. Individual sporophores were mis-shapen, notched and had brown or violet coloured grills. Up to 3.8%, 6.7% and 10.8% of total weight and 3.5%, 5.4% and 8% of total numbers of mushrooms were distorted at the three highest nematode inoculum rates tested. Weights and numbers of distorted mushrooms were positively correlated with the initial nematode population. C. elegans commonly colonised sporophores.