Toxin content of Amanita vidua from Türkiye

There is very little literature on the toxin content of Amanita vidua Gasch, G. Moreno & P.-A. Moreau, which are commonly found in the Mediterranean basin, apart from a recent study conducted in Spain. Due to geographical and climatic differences, toxin concentrations can vary even among mushrooms of the same species. Our study focused on the toxin content of A. vidua mushrooms collected from Türkiye, a region that had not been previously examined in the literature. After performing detailed macroscopic and microscopic identification of the collected mushrooms, we analyzed the amatoxins (α-amanitin, β-amanitin, γ-amanitin, amanin) and phallotoxins (phallacidin and phalloidin) using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC-UV) with ultraviolet detection. We identified three types of amatoxins in the mushroom. The most abundant toxin was α-amanitin, measured at 2.55 ± 0.1 mg/g of dry matter and 0.27 ± 0.01 mg/g of fresh weight. This was followed by β-amanitin, which was present at 1.62 ± 0.1 mg/g of dry matter and 0.17 ± 0.01 mg/g of fresh weight. The lowest concentration was found for γ-amanitin, recorded at 0.2 ± 0.01 mg/g of dry matter and 0.03 ± 0.01 mg/g of fresh weight. Amanin was not detected. Among the phallotoxins, phallacidin was found in the highest concentration (4.75 ± 0.2 mg/g dry matter; 0.52 ± 0.01 mg/g fresh), followed by phalloidin (0.94 ± 0.01 mg/g dry matter; 0.09 ± 0.01 mg/g fresh). This study provides the first information on the toxin content and concentrations of A. vidua from a different region of the world, namely western Türkiye. Future studies from different regions of the world will enrich these findings.