Death-cap mushroom toxin synthesized
Death-cap mushroom toxin synthesized Route devised for α-amanitin, one of the deadliest known toxins by Celia Henry Arnaud March 30, 2018 | APPEARED IN VOLUME 96, ISSUE 14 Key challenges in the synthesis involved making dihydroxyisoleucine (red), 6-hydroxytryptathionine (blue), and ( R )-sulfoxide (green). α-Amanitin, a bicyclic octapeptide produced by the death-cap mushroom, is one of the deadliest known peptide toxins. Researchers are exploring antibody-drug conjugates of it as possible anticancer agents. “α-Amanitin has been the subject of thousands of published studies due to its exceptional toxicity,” says Steven L. Castle of Brigham Young University, who synthesizes bioactive peptides but wasn’t involved with the work. “The generation of analogs or antibody-drug conjugates has been greatly hampered by the absence of a practical synthetic route.” David M. Perrin and coworkers at the University of British Columbia have devised a sy...