Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the detection of lethal amatoxins from mushrooms

PLoS One. 2020 Apr 17;15(4):e0231781. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231781. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

The mushroom poison that causes the most deaths is the class of toxins known as amatoxins. Current methods to sensitively and selectively detect these toxins are limited by the need for expensive equipment, or they lack accuracy due to cross-reactivity with other chemicals found in mushrooms. In this work, we report the development of a competition-based lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the rapid, portable, selective, and sensitive detection of amatoxins. Our assay clearly indicates the presence of 10 ng/mL of α-AMA or γ-AMA and the method including extraction and detection can be completed in approximately 10 minutes. The test can be easily read by eye and has a presumed shelf-life of at least 1 year. From testing 110 wild mushrooms, the LFIA identified 6 out of 6 species that were known to contain amatoxins. Other poisonous mushrooms known not to contain amatoxins tested negative by LFIA. This LFIA can be used to quickly identify amatoxin-containing mushrooms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amanita / chemistry*
  • Amanitins / analysis*
  • Amanitins / chemistry
  • Antibodies / chemistry
  • Gold / chemistry
  • Immunoassay / methods*
  • Peptides / toxicity
  • Reference Standards

Substances

  • Amanitins
  • Antibodies
  • Peptides
  • amatoxin
  • Gold

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Program project NP108, CRIS 2030-42000-049-00D and the USDA’s Innovation Fund Award. C.A.A was funded by the University of California-Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.