1

Published by the Mushroom Club of Georgia Important

Dates!

Wednesday, July 18, 7:00 pm

Monthly Meeting @ REI

TBD

Wednesday, August 1, 7:00 pm

Monthly Meeting @ REI

Tradd Cotter “Edibles with Bacterial Partners”

Sunday, August 26th, 10a-2p

Cultivation Workshop-Oysters

Steven Bell of 5th Kingdom Mushroom Farm

September 14-16

Fourth Oconee State Park Fungi Week-

end

For more information: www.southcaroli

naparks.com/oconee

Sept 22-25

14th Annual Wildacres Regional Foray Wildacres, North Carolina

Registration gkoneal_mrshc@yahoo.com

SEE PAGE 10 FOR MORE INFO

Summer 2012

Inside this issue:

Being a good mushroom hunter is

like being a good detective. Just as Sherlock Holmes recognized brands of to-baccos from the apparent distinctiveness of their ash-es, the mushroom hunter must be able to differentiate among hundreds of species by such intricacies as their size, shape, cap color, stem color, smell and location. Also like detective work, mushroom hunting is dan-gerous and exciting business. In our geographic area

several mushrooms grow that can/will produce a painful death if eaten. Many others won’t kill you, but the severe gastrointestinal reactions that result of ingesting them may make you wish they had! As with knowing a person’s first and last name when you are in relationship with them, hunters of mushrooms should be sure of both Genus and species before eating any wild mushroom. Even when we feel sure of our identi-fication, we are cautioned to eat only a small amount initially and to put aside some

for the Emergency Room staff for examination “just in case.”

Nevertheless, this region is an excellent place to find edi-ble and even delicious mushrooms. While the spring pro-duces only a few edible mushrooms, one of the choicest mushrooms in the world, the morel, grows in abundance in the spring.

Welcome to the Wonderful, Exciting World of Mush-room Hunting!!

Suzanne Rief

MCG Newsletter

Myco-cabulary 2

President’s Corner 8

The Lichens of Tower Road 6

The Most Dangerous Mushroom… 4

There is a (Musical) Fungus Among Us 9

Botanics Exhibition Explores Magic of Mushrooms 3

Heart-Stopping Revelation About How Chinese Mushroom Kills 10

From

2

If a mushroom’s appearance is like that of a flower*

then we can say that it’s ….

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Answer - Page 6

*and for other reasons as well….

Where we shall

venture to improve

our mycological

vocabulary for the

purposes of

education,

identification, and

FUN!

Mushroom Club Committees

CULTIVATION CO-CHAIR: Katharine Geier

CULTIVATION CO-CHAIR: David Dunagan

PROGRAM CHAIR: George Altman

MERCHANDISING CHAIR: Sam Landes

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: George Altman

HOSPITALITY COORDINATOR: Stefanie Hanugud

WALK CHAIR: David Dunagan

PUBLICITY & OUTREACH CHAIR: Ellen Wan

WEBMASTER: Rod Stafford

Our sister organizations

Asheville Mushroom Club

south carolina upstate mycological society

Published by the

Mushroom Club of Georgia

Find us...but don’t eat us @

gamushroomclub.org

e l s e

Mushroom Club Officers

PRESIDENT: Cornelia Cho

VICE-PRESIDENT: Rod Stafford

TREASURER: Sam Landes

RECORDING SECRETARY: Katharine Geier

Myco-cabulary Corner

e

From Our...

When people join the Google Group they’re required to write a little blurb about why they want to join. Some of them actually write some interesting reasons for joining and we thought it might be interesting to collate some of the comments and list them in a column for the newsletter.

Here’s our most recent one!

My husband and I bought a 22 acre farm and there are

mushrooms everywhere... hubby loves to cook with

mushrooms. We want to learn to identify the mush-

rooms that are safe for consumption.

MCG’S EDUCATIONAL

OUTREACH

On May 31, Sam Landes presented a two-hour pro-

gram followed by a 2-hour foray to 12 Master Natu-

ralist students at the Elachee Nature Center in Gaines-

ville, GA. Thanks to member Jean Reber, the club has established a rela-

tionship with Peter Gordon, the director of Elachee. This is the third year

that we have presented to the Master Naturalist Program there.

Sam used a mix of visual aids (books, posters, mushroom samples, photos)

along with a PowerPoint presentation developed by Board Member

Katharine Geier. The students asked many perceptive questions and

showed a real interest in learning more about fungi and mushrooms.

Elachee has many miles of trails with a great variety of terrain. We found

chantarelles, cinnabar chantarelles, many boletes, amanitas, cup fungi,

coral fungi, oysters, and reishi. We have been invited to present again this

fall.

If you have a group or club that would like to learn more about mush-

rooms and fungi have them contact the club for more information.

3

Medieval mushroom recipes; a few! http://nvg.org.au/documents/other/medieval_vegetarian.pdf

Botanics Exhibition

Explores Magic of

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are on the menu at the Royal

Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. A new ex-

hibition at the John Hope Gateway and

events programme explore all aspects of

the world of fungi, in particular the rela-

tionship between people and fungi.

"From Another Kingdom" (31 July until

21 November) is the first major exhibition

in the UK to focus on the shadowy world of fungi. The interactive exhibition reveals the intimate details of

fungi and challenges misconceptions about this mysterious species to show how fungi plays a vital link in

natural life cycles.

The temporary exhibition space at the Garden’s John Hope Gateway has been transformed into a labyrinth of

themed spaces where visitors hear stories about fungal diversity, myths and magic, fungi disease and medi-

cine, and the role fungi play in ecosystems and recycling. The exhibition includes film, sound-scapes, mod-

els and interactive exhibits.

Highlights include a forest of super-sized toadstools, glow-in-the-dark mushrooms and a version of Russian

roulette involving deadly poisonous fungi. Visitors can follow Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole, go

back in time to the psychedelic era and take the opportunity to make a medical diagnosis using X-rays.

Ian Edwards, Head of Exhibitions at RBGE commented: “Whether you regard fungi as friends or foe, if you

thought they were curious but benign organisms, prepare to have your perceptions changed: From Another

Kingdom will show how fungi are essential to all life on the planet!”

To accompany From Another Kingdom – The Amazing World of Fungi, RBGE has published an illustrated

book of the same title.

"From Another Kingdom" runs from 31 July until 21 November at the John Hope Gateway in the Royal Botan-

ic Garden and then goes on tour. Admission to the Garden and John Hope Gateway is free.

FUN NOTE

One of our new members joined us for their first foray last Oc-tober at Big Trees Park in Sandy Springs. He enthusiastically took off into the woods and found many mushrooms. Unfortu-nately, along the way he lost his knife. The club held a foray at Big Trees again on June 23. Once again, our new member tromped off into the woods. He remembered the general locale

in which he lost his knife. Thinking, “What the heck?”, he looked around and came up with his missing knife, a

little dirty and in need of sharpening but other-wise in good condition. Honing your observation skills can definitely pay off.

4

Stephen F. Nelsen Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1396 USA

The Most Dangerous Mushroom ...that you’ve never heard of!

Reprinted from FUNGI magazine Volume 4:5 Winter 2011

Professor Hideo Tomioka, a friend of mine recently sent word from Nagoya, Japan, of a dangerous mushroom that has been making headlines there. According to the August 26, 2011 edition of Yomiuri Shinbun, Japan’s largest daily, a mushroom known as kaen-dake (in Romanji) has been ex-panding its range in Shiga Prefecture.

Alarms have been raised

as this region is adjacent

to the huge Chūkyō met-

ropolitan area which is the

3rd largest in Japan (8.74

million people) and in-

cludes the city of Nagoya.

The newspaper article

included a photo of the

bright red coral like fun-

gus Podostroma cornu-

damae (Fig. 1) and cau-

tioned readers to be very

careful of this mushroom.

The fungus was unfamiliar

to

both of us, but there is an

uncommon (and not known to be dangerous) species of

Podostroma in North America (Podostroma alutaceum,

Fig. 2 and 3).

Several poisonings have been reported in Japan, re-

sulting from consumption of Podostroma cornu-damae.

In 1999, one of a group of five people from Niigata pre-

fecture died two days after consuming about 1 gram

(0.035 oz) of a fruit body that

had been soaked in sake. In

2000, an individual from Gunma

prefecture died

after eating the fried mush-

room. Symptoms associated

with consumption in these cas-

es included stomach pains,

changes in perception, de-

crease in the number of leuko-

cytes and thrombocytes, peel-

ing skin on the face, hair loss,

and shrinking of the cerebel-

lum, resulting in speech impedi-

ment and problems with volun-

tary movement (Saikawa et al.,

2001).

In another instance, an autopsy

revealed multiple organ failure,

including acute kidney failure,

liver necrosis and disseminated

intravascular coagulation

(Koichi et al., 2003). In one

case of poisoning, the patient

suffered from hemophagocy-

tosis, in addition to severe

leukocytopenia and thrombo-

cytopenia seven days after

ingesting the fungus. Plasmapheresis and administration

of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor were used to

treat the blood disorders. The authors suggested that

these treatments, in addition to the large volume of ad-

ministered intravenous fluid—9 liters

(2.4 US gal) over a 12-hour period—were responsible for

his successful recovery Suzuki et al., 2002).

The poisoning symptoms are similar to those observed

previously with animals that have consumed trichothe-

Figure 1. The beautiful but dangerous Podostroma cornudamae,courtesy

Taylor Lockwood. Recent poisonings in Japan were apparently caused

by confusion with the similarly colored club mushroom Clavulinopsis

miyabeana.

5

cene mycotoxins.

Japanese researchers detected the presence of the

macrocyclic trichothecenes: satratoxin H, satratoxin H

12΄, 13΄-diacetate, satratoxin H 12΄-acetate, and satra-

toxin H 13΄-acetate. When grown in liquid culture the

fungus additionally produces roridin E, verrucarin J,

and satratoxin H. With the exception of verrucarin J, a

0.5 gram (0.018 oz) dose of all of these compounds,

when injected into the abdomen of mice, will result in

their death the following day (Saikawa et al., 2001).

We are certainly lucky that this exceptionally poison-

ous fungus does not occur here. Professor Tomioka

wrote that simply touching it is said to lead to the

swelling of your flesh! Podostroma cornu-damae is an

ascomycete fungus, a member of the order Hypocrea-

les (Pezizomycotina), and previously has gone by other

names.

According to Index Fungorum the fungus was originally

described as Hypocrea cornu-damae by Patoullard

(1895) and was found “in lignis putidus in Thibet, ori-

ent.”

Podostroma cornu-damae is next attributed to Boedijn

(1934) (and see Doi, 1973). It was published in Sac-

cardo’s famous Sylloge Fungorum (1905), which was a

comprehensive list of all of the names that had been

used for mushrooms and other fungi (and was the only

such list of its kind).

References Cited Boedijn, K.B. 1934. The genus

Podostroma in The Netherlands Indies. Bulletin du Jardin

Botanique Buitenzorg 13: 269–275. Doi, Y. 1973. Revision

of the Hypocreales with cultural observations. V. Podostro-

ma giganteum Imai, P. cornu-damae (Pat.) Boedijn and

Hypocrea pseudogelatinosa sp. nov. Report of the Tottori

Mycological Institute 10: 421–427. Koichi, M., T. Haruo, Y.

Toshihiro, O. Masami, N. Sadao, and K. Koichiro. 2003.

Case report: food poisoning to death by Podostroma cor-

nu-damae, its case history and autopsy findings. (In Japa-

nese) Acta Criminologiae et Medicinae Legalis Japonica

69(1): 14–20. Patouillard, N.T. 1895. Enumeration des

champignons recoltes par les RR. PP. Farges et Soulie, dans

le Thibet oriental et le Sutchuen. (In French) Bulletin de la

Société Mycologique de France 11: 196–199. Saccardo

P.A., and D. Saccardo. 1905. Supplementum universale.

Pars VI. Hymenomycetae-Laboulbeniomycetae. (In Latin)

Sylloge Fungorum 17: 799. Saikawa, Y., H. Okamoto, T. In-

ui, M. Makabe, T. Okuno, T. Suda, K. Hashimoto, and M.

Nakata. 2001. Toxic principles of a poisonous mushroom

Podostroma cornudamae. Tetrahedron 57(39): 8277–8281.

Suzuki M, Y. Katoh, H. Kumagai, M. Saitoh, H. Ishikawa, H.

Itoh, and K. Shimazu K. 2002. Successful treatment in a

case

of

Podostroma cornu-damae poisoning, a deadly poisonous

mushroom.

(In Japanese) Chudoku Kenkyu 5(2): 177–182.

Figure 2. The North American species, Podostroma alutaceum, found in

Iowa. Courtesy of Jim Frink and the Prairie States Mushroom Club.

Figure 3. The North American species, Podostroma alutaceum, found in

Iowa and courtesy of Jim Frink and the Prairie States Mushroom Club.

6

From The Gardener’s Forum

http://www.agardenersforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number

/230249/hardiness.htm

Myco-cabulary Corner

efflorescent

MEANING: adjective

1. Flowering, bursting into bloom

2. Growing at a rapid rate

3. To change either throughout or on the surface to a

mealy or powdery substance

ETYMOLOGY:

1775, from L. efflorescere, from ex "out" + flores-

cere "to blossom," from flos (see flora).

From The Cornell Mushroom Blog - http://blog.mycology.cornell.edu -

The Lichens of Tower Road by Scott LaGreca, Curator at the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium

When I graduated from Cornell in 1991, I left Ithaca knowing only one lichen: Flavoparmelia caperata (Common Greenshield Lichen), a dead-common species that I’d collected from a tree near my dormitory. I’ve since be-come a fully-fledged Ph.D. Lichenologist, and have had the privilege of working in some of the biggest and best herbaria in the world. I now know nearly all of our northeastern North American lichens on sight.

The other day, while walking along the main east-west route on central campus (Tower Road), I was pleasedto be able to name no fewer than eleven different lichen species on the oak trees that line the north side of the road— ten more than I was able to 20 years ago! Here is my preliminary species list:

Amandinea punctata [2] (Tiny Button lichen) Candelaria concolor [3] (Candleflame lichen) Candelariella efflorescens [4] (Powdery Goldspeck lichen) Flavoparmelia caperata [5] (Common Greenshield lichen) Flavopunctelia soredica [6] (Powder-edged Speckled Greenshield lichen) Ochrolechia arborea [7] (Powdery Saucer lichen) Parmelia sulcata [8] (Hammered Shield lichen) Parmeliopsis capitata [9]? (Powder-tipped Starburst lichen) Phaeophyscia pusilloides [10] (Pompom-tipped Shadow lichen) Physcia millegrana [11] (Mealy Rosette lichen) Punctelia rudecta [12] (Rough Speckled Shield lichen)

Source: various online dictionaries

7

My surveying strategy was casual, but similar to the standard survey methods used by lichenologists who use lichen species diversity as a measure of air quality: I assessed the diversity of lichens on various trees of the same species (in this case, red oak: Quercus rubra) and of roughly the same size (dbh, or diameter at breast height). Using lichen species diversity as a measure of air quality is common in Europe (especially the UK), because European lichenologists have developed lists of lichen “indicator species” —i.e., lists of lichen species that are especially sensitive to air pollution vs. lists of lichen species that are especially toler-ant. In general, the further the distance from a “point source”of pollution (like a paper mill, or a smelting plant), the higher the lichen diversity, when measured on trees of the same species of tree and roughly the same dbh. Lists of indicator species, of course, are entirely dependent on geography and latitude. In other words, the same lichen species will not be found here in North America, so lists of European lichen indi-cator species are of no use here. Once somebody on this side of the Atlantic does the necessary work to develop North American lichen bioindicators, we’ll be able to perform the same sorts of air quality assess-ments here.

Even without well-developed lists of indicator lichen species, however, I can make two general con-clusions about the air quality in the vicinity of Tower Road based on my species list: 1. All the lichen species that I found are common street-tree lichens in many cities in the northeast, and

some (F. caperata, P. sulcata, P. millegrana, P. rudecta) are known to be pollution-tolerant in Europe. In addition, all of the species are either foliose (flat; leafy) or crustose (crusty; immersed in their sub-strate)–none are fruticose (shrubby). [Fruticose lichens are, in general, more sensitive to air pollution than foliose and crustose species.] I would conclude, therefore, that the air quality on Tower Road is not very good.

2. Two of the lichens I found, Candelaria concolor and Physcia mille-grana, prefer high nitrogen environments, at least in Europe. Both species, in both Europe and North America, are commonly found on roadsides (where they enjoy high emissions of NOx compounds from vehicles) and near agricultural areas (fields, pas-tures, and barnyards). So I would conclude from this that the air in the vicinity of Tower Road has an above-average concentra-tion of nitrogen-containing compounds.

My conclusions may not be entirely accurate; the picture may not be so grim! After all, the Air Quality Act was passed in the Unit-ed States in 1967, and studies have shown that our air quality in the northeast has increased steadily since that time. Modern emis-sions controls on motor vehicles have further reduced atmos-pheric pollutants. It takes many years, however, for precipitated atmospheric pollutants to wash away from tree bark. In other words, it may take a while for the lichen flora to recover, even though air quality has increased dramatically. To be truly sure, we’d need to precisely measure air quality, with a machine, to de-termine exactly what’s happening with regards to air quality vs. lichen diversity along Tower Road.

Another interesting observation–one not having to do with air quality–is the apparent, gradual re-placement of Flavoparmelia caperata by the very similar-looking Flavopunctelia soredica on the Tower Road oak trees (the latter is the main lichen flowing down the trunk in our photo). Former CUP curator Bob Dirig has been tracking this phenomenon throughout the Finger Lakes, and other parts of New York. It’s not clear what may be causing this— but it certainly merits closer inspection.

I look forward to doing more field work, and discovering more about Ithaca’s lichens, once the weath-er warms up again. Meanwhile, you can find me indoors, in the safety and warmth of my microscope lamp!

8

Once again, we have much to be pleased

about as a club.

President’s Corner

Our gorgeous new website allows people to join

online or to renew and track their membership status.

Many thanks to our talented VP, Rod Stafford for his

coding and web design expertise and our board mem-

bers for pitching in with content as well.

The connections we've made with the larger Mycolog-

ical community have been very rewarding, including

meeting Britt Bunyard, editor of Fungi Magazine and

travel writer and mushroom expert Larry Millman as

well as other club presidents and members from all

over the country at this past NAMA. Those of you who

signed up for a subscription for Fungi magazine have

already learned about how to grow your own huitlaco-

che (corn smut fungus--- a meso-American delicacy)

and about Smart Self-cleaning fungus fabric in the

most recent issue.

Sadly, we've had to say farewell to Elliot Kendall,

whose affiliation with Emory got us permission to do

walks on campus. As part of his move to San Francis-

co, he's left us with another very nice microscope do-

nated to the club, as well as some nice mushroom

themed items for the Oconee Live Auction. Thank you

Elliot!

Elliot was also helping out with some of the club ad-

ministrative duties. Really, because we are all volun-

teers, we are thrilled when people are willing to pitch

in and help make the club run more smoothly. Let us

know what your talents are.

Some people have requested that we videotape our

meetings for those who can't attend. This sounds

wonderful, particularly with the fascinating talks we've

had, but that endeavor would definitely take some tal-

ented and dedicated folks to pull off (Contact me if

you're ready!)

A good intermediary project could involve making

voice recordings of the talks, which are then paired

with the presenter's powerpoint slides --- I've seen

this referred to as an "AudioPoint" presentation.

(Anyone want to tackle audio recording?)

Upcoming, in addition to our speaker line up, we've

got the 3rd Oconee Joint foray on Sept 14th. It's

such a great learning experience. Mushroom ex-

pert, Jay Justice says it's his one of his favorite for-

ays because of the incredible diversity of species.

Unfortunately for those who joined us more recent-

ly this year, the foray sold out of spots within 24

hours of opening online registration. We did have a

waiting list, which was opened up once we

changed to a bigger meeting venue, but unless

there are significant cancellations, we don't expect

there to be more spots opening up.

Our speaker line-up for the rest of the year includes

club member Susan Harper teaching us about

Spore Microscopy Identification; Tradd Cotter of

Mushroom Mountain bringing yet more cutting-

edge and mind-opening information about relation-

ships between Edible Mushrooms and Bacteria;

Taylor Lockwood wowing us with his travels and

his photos; myself presenting on "Mushrooms as

(Our) Allies in Caring for the Environment"; and to

bring the whole thing full circle, in Nov, we have

Larry Millman returning to the Southeast where he

will also pay a visit to our sister club SCUMS

(South Carolina Upland Mycological Society).

As for more adventures for our club, we've still got

a straw cultivation workshop, a microscopy lab se-

ries for those who want to get up close and person-

al with mushrooms, Tree ID part II, a needle-felted

mushroom pillow workshop and more in store.

See You in the Woods,

Cornelia Cho President

9

“The Sounds of Spores Spectacular” was the highlight of The Sounds of Spores installation that turn(ed) the

patterns of falling spores into music in real time. Created by Edinburgh’s sound designer Yann Seznec and

mycologist Dr. Patrick C. Hickey, the installation (was) on exhibit at the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens

until Nov 21, 2010, part of a whole show about mushrooms – From Another Kingdom: The Amazing World of

Fungi. Seznec and Hickey were awarded an Alt-W grant from New Media Scotland for the idea.

The mushroom itself stayed in a jar at the back amidst cables, electronics, a glockenspiel and an array of hand-

made bells dangling from the ceiling. It continuously dropped tiny spores (agents sent out by fungi so they can

spread and reproduce), made visible by a green laser pointed at the mushroom. As the falling spores appeared

on the video, software signaled different bells to chime, creating pleasantly random series of tones. Through-

out the performance, live video footage of the mushroom appeared on the wall behind the band – human jazz

trio The Dyad, who improvised along with the sounds from the fungus.

A camera is pointed at (an individual) mushroom, and the live video feed is sent to the computer for analysis.

This is done in Jitter, which tracks the spores in real time. The data is processed in Max and sent out Arduinos,

which control musical instruments created using small solenoids.

Max is a visual programming language for music and multi-

media. It has been widely used by composers, performers,

software designers, researchers, and artists for creating inno-

vative recordings, performances, and installations. Max is a

set of audio extensions for MSP which enable the manipula-

tion of digital audio signals in real-time, allowing users to

create their own synthesizers and effects processors. A major

package for Max/MSP called Jitter was released in 2003,

providing real-time video, 3-D, and matrix processing capa-

bility.

Although curious folk in the audience would have welcomed a bit more explanation about just how the drop-

ping spores became sounds and all the controls at the back, Seznec kept the spotlight on The Dyad and his

mushroom. We were left to sip our drinks, enjoy the music and feel glad to be present for what is likely the

first time humans wittingly collaborate with fungi for a musical performance.

Yann Seznec is a sound designer, musician, and digital artist . He is based in Edinburgh, and is currently

guest lecturer at the University of Abertay Dundee, where he recently completed the Digital Media Arts Resi-

dency. He specializes in interactive installations, ragtime piano, Wii music software, and sound art.

Dr. Patrick Hickey became interested in mycology after working on an art project at school and subsequently

studied mycology at university. In 2007, he founded NIPHT where he serves as Director. NIPHT develops en-

vironmentally friendly technologies utilizing fungi. The company also designs and manufactures novel energy-

efficient lighting products and offers consultancy services to optimize bio-imaging techniques and optical in-

strumentation. FEATURE MASH UP—from these two sources http://www.eusci.org.uk/news/musical-fungus-play-sold-out-show Musical fungus play sold-out show

http://auricular.com/blog/?p=292 There is a (Musical) Fungus Among Us by

There is a (Musical) Fungus Among Us mushroom performs live jazz improv to a packed house

10

BEIJING—Southwest China’s hill country has long been

stalked by a killer whose victims sometimes drop dead in

midsentence. Two years ago, researchers unmasked the

likely villain as a mushroom, new to science, which no one

had realized is poisonous. Now they have isolated its tox-

ins and propose an astonishing modus operandi.

Over the past few decades, health authorities in China

have blamed more than 400 deaths on Yunnan sudden

unexplained death. The syndrome exhibits a curious pat-

tern. It strikes almost exclusively during the summer rainy

season in highland villages in a narrow altitude band in

Yunnan and possibly neighboring provinces. In 2010, an

investigation spearheaded by epidemiologist Zeng Guang of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Preven-

tion (CDC) in Beijing identifi ed the culprit as a small white mushroom (Science, 9 July 2010, p. 132), since named

Trogia venenata.

In the latest work, Liu Jikai, a medicinal chemist at Kunming Institute of Botany, and Chinese CDC colleagues set

out to pinpoint the poisons. After months of painstaking effort, Liu says, “we isolated almost every unusual com-

pound” in the mushroom.

Three were toxic: two novel unsaturated amino acids* and γ-

guanidinobutyric acid, a compound normally found in the brain

that induces seizures in lab animals. Unlike virtually all known

natural amino acids, which have left-handed chirality, the Trogia

pair is right-handed. Unsaturated amino acids are known toxins

in other poisonous mushrooms, says Kimiko Hashimoto, an or-

ganic chemist at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University in Japan who

with colleagues isolated a vicious muscle-melting toxin from

Russula subnigricans, a mushroom found in Asia and North

America. Puzzlingly, however, T. venenata’s toxins are not par-

ticularly potent. “The toxicities of the newly isolated amino acids

are rather weak,” Hashimoto says.

Also contrary to expectations, the Trogia toxins had only a mild

effect on the heart. Mice fed an extract from the mushroom died.

But the enzyme creatine kinase, a marker for heart attacks and

other manifestations of muscle damage, was only slightly elevat-

ed in mouse blood—certainly not high enough to explain the tox-

ins’ lethality. Drilling deeper into the toxicology data, the team

discovered that their mice had extremely low blood sugar. The

“profound hypoglycemia” triggered by the mushroom extract

“may explain the fatal outcome in humans and experimental ani-

mals,” Liu and colleagues report in the 5 March issue of An-

gewandte Chemie.

Such a mechanism for a toxin is not unprecedented. Ackee, a

West African fruit grown widely in the Caribbean, contains hypoglycin, an aptly named toxin that blocks cells from

using fatty acids as an energy source. As a result, cells rapidly use up glucose, starving them of energy. After ack-

ee ripens, most hypoglycin in the fruit is converted to benign compounds. But eating the unripe fruit or its seeds

can be fatal. Hypoglycin causes Jamaican vomiting sickness, in which victims can suffer seizures, coma, and in

rare instances, death.

Nastier than they look. Trogia venenata’s toxins may

starve cells of energy.

Heart-Stopping

Revelation About

How Chinese

Mushroom Kills

11

Similarities in the structures of the mushroom’s amino acids and hypoglycin, Liu says, suggest

that they “belong to the same class of chemical compounds.” Trogia and ackee poisonings are

not mirror images of each other. In Yunnan, few people had vomited, says U.S. CDC epidemi-

ologist Robert Fontaine, who is on assignment as a senior adviser to the Chinese CDC. How-

ever, he notes, some victims would suffer seizures and lapse into comas before dying. And

researchers in Kunming isolated one of Trogia’s exotic lefty amino acids from the blood of a

previously healthy 27-year-old man who had died

suddenly in August 2009, in a village in Yunnan that

had experienced repeated sudden-death clusters.

What’s happening at the molecular level may be the

key to unlocking the riddle of Yunnan sudden unex-

plained death. Hypoglycin blocks beta oxidation, or

the production of ATP from fatty acids, and glucose

regeneration, causing hypoglycemia. If Trogia tox-

ins were simply suppressing blood sugar, victims

might pass out—the brain uses only glucose as an

energy source— but they would stand a good chance of recovery. The heart, on the other hand, needs a lot of en-

ergy and relies on beta oxidation. “A depressed capacity of heart muscle to use fats as energy” may explain T.

venenata’s lethality, Fontaine says.

Liu suspects that Trogia’s toxins, milquetoast on their own, may have powerful synergistic effects, perhaps abetted

by γ-guanidinobutyric acid. The team plans more toxicology tests. Not everyone buys that explanation. Shi Wu-

Xiang, an epidemiologist at Dali University in Yunnan who has studied the syndrome, says that relatives have in-

sisted that some victims never ate the mushroom, while in other cases several family members consumed it but

only one or two fell ill. He believes the cause may be minerals in the soil washed into the water supply by summer

downpours.

Fontaine says that if hypoglycemia is indeed the mechanism, then Trogia toxins should only be fatal if blood sugar

falls below a threshold. Eating an insufficient quantity to reach that threshold may have no effect, which would ex-

plain why some family members do not succumb. More damning, there hasn’t been a single reported case of Yun-

nan sudden unexplained death since Chinese CDC mounted a campaign in 2009 to warn villagers about T. vene-

nata, Fontaine says. “ It just stopped,” he says. “If something pops up again, then we’ll say, ‘Whoops, maybe we

were wrong and go back and investigate.’ ” But as a public health threat, he says, the case is closed.

–RICHARD STONE

Learn to Grow Gourmet Oyster Mushrooms at Home with 5th Kingdom During this two hour class participants will learn how to grow gourmet oyster mushrooms at home with no special equipment at a fraction of the cost of purchasing them. You will make a Golden Oyster Mushroom Garden to take home which will produce up to a pound of mushrooms over three months. In addition we will discuss mushroom bi-ology and ecology, general mushroom culture methods and how to prepare and store your mushrooms.

The course is taught by Steven Bell, founder of 5th Kingdom, an Atlanta-based mushroom farm and education cen-ter. Steven has an extensive background in the environmental sciences with training as a field biologist, organic farmer and landscape designer.

The proceeds will support the Mushroom Club and the East Lake Farmers Market and Garden.

DATE: Sunday, August 26th 2012 PRICE: $20.00 per person and includes all materials.

TIME: 10:00 to 12:00 LOCATION: East Lake Farmers Market please arrive 20 minutes early to meet your classmates corner of Hosea Williams Dr and 2nd Ave SE Atlanta, GA 30317

To register: Send your check made out to the Mushroom Club of Georgia to:

4642 Crepe Myrtle Cir. Marietta, GA 30067

12

Or to pay by check

print and complete a Mem-

bership Application Form to

mail by clicking here

JOIN...and PAY ONLINE click on the image below

A CALL FOR DONATIONS: ITEMS & SERVICES FOR

THE OCOEE FORAY LIVE AUCTION

Whether or not you are attending the Ocoee Foray September 14-16, your donation of fun

or fantastic items—including, perhaps, your personal or professional services—will be MOST ap-

preciated!

We had a great time with a live auction (rather than the nearly imperative “silent” version)

at our Holiday Potluck this year...members performed the roles of auctioneer and “Vanna White”

with charm and aplomb, raising a respectable sum of money for the club; so much so that that we

thought we’d give it a go at the foray to help offset costs!

Give us your Trinkets, your Baubles, your Art and even your Vocation to go to the highest

bidder, we’ll be oh, so grateful and sincerely thankful.

Keep in mind that if you wish to donate your services, that it may require you to make a trip

to Asheville or Clemson if a member from the other attending clubs is the recipient of your dona-

tion when the gavel sounds!

To get your donations to us, please contact Newsletter Editor George Altman, who is head-

ing the effort. newsletter@gamushroomclub.org