Transcriptome analysis of toxic mushroom, Pleurocybella porrigens

The mushroom, Pleurocybella porrigens (angel's wing mushroom in English; Sugihiratake in Japanese), belongs to the family Tricholomataceae and is the only species of fungus in the genus Pleurocybella. This common mushroom is widespread throughout the temperate regions, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, and grows on dead trees such as cedar and pine. The fruiting bodies of the mushroom are pure white and are consumed throughout the world. However, in autumn 2004, 59 incidents of food poisoning were reported following consumption of P. porrigens and 17 people died from acute encephalopathy in Japan. These individuals were on hemodialysis for chronic renal failure prior to death. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Japan convened a study group; however, the team concluded that the disease was of unexplained origin and the group was dissolved in 2006. In 2013, we reported short read sequence analysis for genome and transcriptome data of the fruiting bodies and mycelia of P. porrigens by Illumina Genome Analyzer. In addition, in 2023, we revealed a complex of a lectin (PPL) and pleurocybelline (PC) causes damage to the blood-brain barrier, and then pleurocybellaziridine (PA) which is a novel small molecule compound derived from P. porrigens causes brain damage in mice. In this study, we obtained transcriptome data of its fruiting bodies and mycelia by a new highly accurate next- generation sequencer (Illumina NovaSeq 6000).