AMATOXIN AND PHALLOTOXIN CONTENT OF LEPIOTA CRISTATA

Abstract

Despite Lepiota cristata has been known as a nontoxic mushroom species, some researchers have reported that this species contains the amatoxins. In this study, the amatoxin and phallotoxin content of the Lepiota cristata growing in Turkey have been analysed.The amatoxins and phallotoxin levels have been measured using the reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography system. Toxin analyses were carried out for dried L. cristata, which were collected from the forests Kastamonu region of Turkey in 2015, as a whole. The alpha amanitin, beta amanitin, gamma amanitin, phalloidin and phallacidine levels have been analysed. Detection limits have been determined as 2.5 ng/g for amatoxins and phallotoxins. Amatoxin and phallotoxin levels of the mushroom samples have been under the detection limits. Some researchers have reported that the mushroom species of Lepiota cristata contains the amatoxins and it is lethal mushroom species. Conversely, we have found that in this study, Lepiota cristata does not contain any amatoxins or phallotoxins (alpha amanitin, beta amanitin, gamma amanitin, phalloidin and phallacidin). New researches about the how toxin content of the Lepiota cristata may be useful in order to understand of toxicity of this species.