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Division of Molecular Cell Biology,
Klaus Høiland
Division of Botany and Plant Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. 1045 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway
Karel Janak
Fredrik C. Størmer 1
Department of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. 4404 Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway
| ABSTRACT |
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This is the first report quantifying the orellanine content in basidiospores. The toxin content and tissue distribution of orellanine were determined from Cortinarius orellanus (Fr.) Fr. and Cortinarius rubellus Cooke. Basidiospores, the basidiocarp, divided into cap and stem, and mycorrhiza roots were analyzed to determine the amount of orellanine by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography and thin layer chromatography. The orellanine contents in spores were 0.31% (C. orellanus) and 0.09% (C. rubellus). In caps, we found the toxin content to be 0.94% (C. orellanus) and 0.78% (C. rubellus), in stems 0.48% (C. orellanus) and 0.42% (C. rubellus) and in mycorrhiza roots from C. rubellus we determined the orellanine contents to 0.03%. In addition, extracts from the different structures of the basidiocarp of C. orellanus and C. rubellus, with an orellanine content corresponding to 25 nmol, inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis.
Key words: Basidiospores, Cortinarius orellanus, Cortinarius rubellus, mushroom poisoning, nephrotoxicity, orellanine
| INTRODUCTION |
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Mycotoxins may have different functions for spore germination and survival. Based on the presence of large amounts of the UV absorbing mycotoxin citrinin in the outer layer of spores of P. verrucosum (Størmer et al 1998
), it was suggested that the toxin may function as a sun protectant in addition to creating favorable conditions during the initial stages of germination. An additional function of citrinin in spores could be to affect the uptake of iron in other competing microorganisms (Størmer and Høiby 1996
).
The presence of ochratoxin A in dust collected from households and from cowsheds (Richard et al 1999, Skaug et al 2001) indicates that fungal spores containing mycotoxins may pose a respiratory problem for humans as well as for animals. A similar issue may also arise from mushrooms if their basidiospores contain toxins.
To our knowledge no reports have described the quantification of toxin in basidiospores from species belonging to the Basidiomycota. Orellanine, (2,2'-bipyridine)-3,3', 4,4'-tetrol-1, 1'-dioxide, is the toxin responsible for the lethal nephrotoxicity of C. orellanus (Fr.) Fr. and C. rubellus Cooke (Schumacher and Høiland 1983
), but prior to this study it has not been isolated from spores. Therefore, we have determined the concentration of orellanine in spores from these two species and compared it with the concentration of the toxin in caps and stems.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Extraction of orellanine
The dried caps and stems were powdered in liquid N2, and fatty material and non polar pigments were removed through two 30-min extractions with diethylether (Prast et al 1988
, Holmdahl et al 1987
). This was followed by five extractions for 30 min with methanol-4% KCl in water (4:1 v/v). After centrifugation for 15 min at 15 000 g, the extract was evaporated to dryness at 60 C. Before analysis, the sample was dissolved in 1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in water. With the exception of liquid N2 powdering, the extraction of spores and mycorrhiza were carried out in the same way.
Orellanine standard The orellanine was a generous gift from Jean-Michel Richard, Université J. Fourier de Grenoble, France.
Chromatographic conditions
High pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC).
The HPLC equipment used for analysis consisted of a Perkin-Elmer series 4 HPLC pump, a Hewlett Packard 11040 photodiode array detector, a 7125-075 Rheodyne injector with a variable volume loop, and a Waters (115 x 13 mm) C-18 preparative column. The mobile phase, flow rate of 1 mL/min, consisted of acetonitrile-water (5:95 v/v) acidified to pH 1 with 1% TFA. All analyses were carried out at laboratory temperature. Orellanine in extracts was tentatively confirmed by retention of standard at 6.5 min, and the amounts of orellanine in the sample were determined by comparison with a standard curve. The concentration of the standard and extracts was calculated using a molecular extinction coefficient of 9100 M-1cm-1 at 288 nm (Cantin et al 1989
). The fractions were dried in a rotavapor at 50 C, and the material was dissolved in 1% TFA in water and subjected to thin-layer chromatography.
Thin-layer chromatography (TLC).
The samples were applied on silica or cellulose plates. Silica glass plates and aluminum sheets with cellulose without fluorescent indicator, and cellulose glass plates with fluorescent indicator, were used with two different solvent systems. The first system consisted of n-butanol-acetic acid-water (BAW) (3:1:1 v/v/v) (Keller-Dilitz et al 1985
, Kürnsteiner and Moser 1981
), and the second was n-butanol-TFA-water (BTW) (3:1:1 v/v/v), with pH adjusted to 2 and 0, respectively. Orellanine and orelline were identified by exposing the plates to UV-light from a transilluminator with an intensity of 6000 W/cm2 at a wavelength of 365 nm. The amount of orellanine in the spots was determined by comparison with standard solutions.
Liquid chromatography-Mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Mass spectra were obtained with a VG Platform quadruple mass spectrometer (Fisons Instruments, VG Biotech, Altrincham, UK) equipped with an atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization source. Samples were directly introduced into the MS source at a flow of 10 µL/min from a 200 µL loop. Total ion current mass spectra were measured in both positive and negative ion detector modes for orellanine and orelline standards at a concentration of 0.5 µg/mL, and for extracts of caps and of the spores. Acetonitrile-water (1:1 v/v) was used for preparation of solutions. The pH of solutions used for positive ionization was adjusted to 2.0 with 1% formic acid, while the pH of solutions used for negative ionization was adjusted between 5.06.0 with ammonium/ammonium acetate.
Effects of spore-, cap- and stem extracts upon growth of Bacillus subtilis
Cultures of Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 were grown on a minimal medium containing per 1000 mL: KH2PO4 3 g; MgSO4·7H2O 1 g; (NH4)2SO4 1 g; and glucose 10 g (Davies and Mingioli 1950
). The medium was prepared in plates of 4 mm depth, with the pH of the medium adjusted to 7.0. Paper discs, 6 mm in diameter, were purchased from AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden. They were placed on the plates after being impregnated with extracts from caps, stems, or spores containing 25 nmol orellanine dissolved in methanol or 1% TFA. The zones given as the diameter (mm) with complete inhibition were measured after 24 h of incubation at 37 C. The discs were dried before application. Controls with methanol or 1% TFA gave no inhibition. The inhibition zones are presented as an average of two different experiments (Table II).
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| RESULTS |
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LC-MS experiments were performed to confirm the findings of orellanine in the different tissues in C. orellanus and C. rubellus. In accordance with literature data (Antkowiak et al 1994
), orellanine was found to be more stable in acidic solution than in neutral solution. Low pH supports positive ionization, while basic solutions support generation of negative ions in electrospray MS. By positive ionization in acidic solutions, similar ions were found in spectra of orellanine standard, in cap and spore extracts of the C. orellanus and extract of the cap from C. rubellus. The most intense ion was triple loaded molecular ion (m/z = 85.0) in both standard and samples. Mono-loaded molecular ion (M+H)+ with m/z = 253.0 was also detected in standard and samples. However, while this was the next most intense ion in the standard, two other ions had higher responses in extracts of basidiocarps from both species and spores from C. orellanus. These ions corresponded to oxidized and/or decomposed products of orellanine. As a result of orellanine oxidation, quinone (MW 250) with ion at m/z = 83.2 was also detected in both basidiocarp and spore extracts. Furthermore, decomposition products 3,3', 4,4'-tetrahydroxy-2, 2'-bypiridine (orelline, MW 220) giving ions at m/z = 3.2 and m/z = 111.0, and 3,3', 4,4'-tetrahydroxy-2, 2'-bypiridine-N-oxide (MW 236) giving ion at m/z = 78.3 were detected only in extracts of basidiocarps. It was not possible to obtain negative ion mass spectra of the orellanine standard at low pH. Only at pH above 4.8 a spectrum for orellanine standard was recovered. However, at this low pH, most was in the form of the oxidation product (quinone, MW 250) and only small amounts of the orellanine M-1-ion could be detected. Good sensitivity was obtained at pH 12, but then only the product of oxidation and its adduct with acetonitrile were detected, in extracts of basidiocarps and of spores. No decomposition products were found in the standard, but high concentrations of mono-N-oxide and somewhat lower concentrations of orelline were found in extracts of basidiocarp, similar to the analysis using positive ionization.
We measured the effect of C. orellanus and C. rubellus extracts upon growth of B. subtilis. Extracts from cap, stem or spores from the two species containing equal amounts of orellanine (25 nmol) inhibited the growth of B. subtilis differently (Table II). No inhibition zone was observed from extract of caps from C. orellanus (6 mm, i.e., disc diameter 6 mm), whereas spore extract from C. orellanus revealed an inhibition zone of 25 mm as compared to standard orellanine (15 mm). Dose-response curves for the standard orellanine showed a reasonably linear relationship between concentration of the toxin and the diameter of the inhibition zones (not shown).
| DISCUSSION |
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Our results are in good agreement with those findings, showing the toxin content of C. orellanus cap to be 0.9% and that of stem to be 0.5%, and the toxin content of C. rubellus cap to be 0.8% and that of stem to be 0.4%. (Table I). These contents are slightly lower than those found by others, but the differences might be due to sample variation. It is known that the phallotoxin content of Amanita phalloides varies with carpophore development stage and with altitude. An unequal distribution of toxin among the different structures of the A. phalloides basidiocarp was also observed (Enjalbert et al 1989
).
To our knowledge there have been no reports of the orellanine content in Cortinarius basidiospores. The orellanine content of basidiospores of C. orellanus was determined to 0.3% and that of C. rubellus to be 0.1% of the spore weight by HPLC and TLC. One C. orellanus spore thus contains approximately 0.9 pg of orellanine, while one C. rubellus spore contains about 0.3 pg of orellanine. By comparison, the smaller conidia of Penicillium verrucosum (average diameter 3.2 µm) have been found to contain citrinin in the range 1.44.1 pg/spore, or 824% of the spore weight (Størmer et al 1998
). In fungal spores, there are substances which could be important for spore survival, activation, and ultimately germination. The amount of orellanine in spores from the Cortinarius species, in particular C. rubellus, is low compared to those of the whole basidiocarp.
In 1987 Rapior et al isolated mycelium from C. orellanus grown on an agar medium and showed the presence of orellanine by TLC. The orellanine content of the mycelium was much lower than in the basidiocarp but no further quantification was done. Cortinarius species are important fungal partners in ectomycorrhiza, particularly in arctic, boreal, and nemoral regions. The ectomycorrhizal association has been shown to increase the growth rate and biomass production of the host plant, and to influence the development of the root system. The fungal component may contribute 25% or more to the dry weight of an infected root (Isaac 1992
). We found that the orellanine content in mycorrhizal roots, the fungus partner being C. rubellus, was quite low. Assuming 25% fungal component, the orellanine content was determined to be only 0.03% of the dry weight of the mycorrhizal root. This is even lower than what was found for the spores, and may therefore be regarded as a contamination rather than an actively metabolized secondary metabolite in this tissue.
The extracts from various parts of the two species containing the same amount of orellanine as the standard (25 nmol) inhibited the bacterial growth from no inhibition 6 mm (C. orellanus cap), to 25 mm (C. orellanus spores) as compared to 15 mm (orellanine standard). The reason for this discrepancy could be that the extracts contain various other compounds that could effect bacterial growth, indicating that the C. orellanus spores contains additional substances toxic to the bacterium. These toxins could yield a beneficial effect for the spores during the initial spore germination, possibly by inhibiting the growth of competing microorganisms. A basidiocarp is usually short-lived; it forms a special structure separated from the rest of the fungus individual, and it has a distinct and important role in producing and distributing spores. Therefore, the metabolites in the fruit body may be formed for completely different reasons than those found in spores and mycelium (Stradler and Sterner 1998
).
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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Accepted for publication May 3, 2002.
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, Sandven P, Huitfeldt HS, Eduard W, Skogstad A., 1998 Does the mycotoxin citrinin function as a sun protectant in conidia from Penicillium verrucosum?. Mycopathol 142:43-47
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