Be Careful What You Eat: Analysis of α-Amanitin Toxicity

Death cap mushrooms can often be confused with edible, harmless varieties leading to life-threatening risks for the persons who ingest it. The case begins with watching a video about Donna Davis making a soup from mushrooms she had collected in the forest and getting sick the next morning. A parallel entry point is through reading a clinical study focusing on a 61-year-old man that was admitted to the hospital with a variety of symptoms and stated that he ingested several mushrooms of unknown variety. Background information about the Death Cap Mushroom and RNA polymerase II are provided as a video and research abstract, respectively. Molecular explorations in the case focus on understanding the structural basis of α-amanitin interactions with RNA Polymerase II during transcription, while elucidating species specific differences as well. Molecules explored: The molecules explored in the case are α-amanitin and RNA polymerase II. Visualization and explorations of RNA polymerase II structure is completed with and without the toxin bound.