That Chemist - 2022-07-06
In this video, I discuss several fungal mycotoxins! https://www.patreon.com/thatchemist Community Discord - https://discord.gg/thatchemist ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links to articles discussed in this episode: Gyromitrin - https://www.doi.org/10.1016/S0041-0101(03)00238-1 Gyromitrin toxicity - https://www.doi.org/10.1093/jnci/60.1.201 Methyl hydrazine - https://www.doi.org/10.1002/jat.2550110403 Lolitrem B - https://www.doi.org/10.3390/toxins8020047 Satratoxin H - https://www.doi.org/10.1128/AEM.64.10.3620-3625.1998 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satratoxin-H Fusarin C - https://www.doi.org/10.1021/jf00125a031 Vomitoxin - https://www.doi.org/10.1007/s00204-010-0579-8 Ergotamine - https://www.doi.org/10.1046/j.1526-4610.2003.03034.x Diplonine - https://www.doi.org/10.1021/jf202735e Citrinin - https://www.doi.org/10.2478/10004-1254-60-2009-1992 Gliotoxin - https://www.doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3689-1 Fusarium verticillioides - https://www.doi.org/10.3390/jof7090694 Moniliformin - https://www.doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X-64.11.1780 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgements: -mfernflower (Anthony) from the Discord - we had many excellent discussions!
I can't believe he did it.
That title seems a bit sus
Must be the impostor
Omg did he screwed your mother?! 😱
we are talking about the toxic fungus, among us.
amogus
"Which just means that you're bleeding into your lungs."
I'm glad it JUST means that.
“This is just a mutagen” my brother in christ
ඞ
Ah yes, the false morel. Some people here in Finland are just nuts about that mushroom. Never tried it myself, but it's regarded as one of, if not the most delicious mushroom that grows here. The local way of preparing them involves parboiling them twice for at least five minutes and then rinsing them throughly each time. I guess it works since there's only been two recorded cases of death from the mushroom, both cases where a child ate uncooked false morels. I guess the shitting and puking and eye twitching you get from poorly prepared false morels isn't exactly pleasant either though. For me, anything that has the line "do not inhale the cooking vapors" in it's preparation instructions just isn't worth it.
I 100% agree with you
My girlfriend is Finnish and she was actually telling me about how they cook it. Since I forage for mushrooms as a hobby when she first told me about it I was completely shocked since I know how, let's just say, unpleasant they can be
Haha, I picked over 3 kilogram of those a few years back (with gloves on) and my friends parents prepared them. I got to taste them and it was delicious. But this was after they had been prepared and dried for 2 months.
@@TicchuNecchu I have eaten a lot of these. We boiled them 3 times to be sure. Any other occasion I have been offered them, they have been re-poisoned by adding onions so I have declines those.
I was taught to chop it up and let it dry for several days, then just boiled for 15 minutea to be sure.
Hello, farmer and semi crop scientist here, vomitoxin is no joke! Depending on the weather conditions, fusarium graminarium can really take over a whole field and cause a pink sheen on the grain. Many farmers choose to spray fungicide a few weeks before their crops start to seed out because this (obviously) greatly reduces the chance of grain being impacted.
That is crazy - I would love to see more comments about this kind of stuff!!
thank you for your service👍if it werent for farmers, we wouldn't have food on our plates everyday
came for the among us, stayed for the toxic fungus.
🤙
Great video! One more toxin I want to add here. Aflatoxins contamination is one of the most common contaminations in many third-world countries. mainly affect peanuts and maize, and can be passed into animal products like egg milk and meat. It has mediocre acute toxicity, but it's pretty much the most carcinogenic substance in the world and cant be broken down by cooking. The liver usually gets rid of toxins by oxidation to make them more hydrophilic. However, in this case, it gets metabolized into epoxide which reacts with DNA by nucleophilic addition.
You will see it in an upcoming video!
I am a huge mycology nerd, I've been watching your channel a while and I was so happy to see this in your back catalog!
Mycotoxins are terrifying and cool as hell.
Thank you :)
@@That_Chemist ඞ
3:20 my grandma always says "all mushrooms are edible, but some only once" and l think thats very wise
your grandma was wise
@@That_Chemist *is
lol
My dad says that too
I’m glad you included ergotamine, that’s the most interesting fungal toxin IMO. Should’ve mentioned what it’s used to synthesize…
👀
would you consider taking a look at some of the "good" compounds found in fungus? there are definitely some interesting structures & motifs in those as well.
feel free to make suggestions in the discord!
Psilocybin is basically serotonin, structurally
Muscimol is kinda similar to another natural neurotransmitter that binds to the muscarinic receptors
I'd be more interested in their interactions with the receptors and brain activity.
The psychedelic molecules tho
There's 5-psilocybin which is Bufotenine and cane toads have them, also anandenthera columbrina/pelegrina seeds, and ofc there's Ayahuasca which brings beta carbolines too, then there's LSA, THCv, perretinine, salvinorium...
The bigger class is incredibly interesting, but the chemistry of fungal-only psychedelics isn't enough for a whole video, I think
Now, there's good GMO molecules too that come from saccharomyces cerevisae (I'm butchering these names, ain't I?)
Which include THC(and alcohol, but calling it psychedelic would make an oxymoron), and I'm not really remembering any other good molecules from fungi besides terpenes and flavonoids.
Did I not say the ones you were referring to?
@@Ewr42 and don't forget lysergamides. Don't have anything clever to say about them chemically, but there's evidence to suggest that their ritual use was prevalent worldwide, with what little we know of the Hindu Soma and the eleucidian mystery cult of Greece indicating a concoction made from ergot infected grain.
I'm sure most have seen it before, but, Penicillin. ;)
@@Aaron-zu3xn which one is the 4-HO-DMT? Either way, I'm not sure how to spell them in English and the words always ends up looking wrong and weird, so I go with psilocybin for both bc of my autocorrect lol
Me watching the start of the video: Fungus naturally creating Hydrazine? I’m not sure anything can get worse.
Me, continuing to watch: well I guess a neurotoxin with a cyclopropane ring is worse
Theres also bacteria that create hydrazine, rocket fuel bacteria xD
can't believe you didn't mention ergotamine as a precursor to a certain family of lysergamides; Hoffman was investigating ergotamine derivatives for bleeding after childbirth when he stumbled upon his miraculous discovery that since changed psychopharmacology!
6:49, if you can't read or listen...
I am too stupid to comprehend this comment.
"My heart's a seizin', my lungs are wheezin', the fuckin' walls are melting, I can hear Satan's voice. He's telling me to buy apple... what does that mean, why does he want me to buy apples!?"
@@genokugel acid
@@alexkaplan6581 Sam is a national treasure lol
When the chemistry research paper is sus:
TC: a new sacrifice for the algorithm gods
There's a journal called ChemSusChem 😳😳😳😳😳😳
😳😳😳
I love how this is a thinly veiled cover for getting the memeing out of the way
Hands down, best channel on YouTube. Thanks for putting your time into making and sharing all this!
Thank you!
When the fungus is sus
When are they not? I still love them though.
I'm sure many who watch this channel will already know all about hydrazine, but it's still worth noting that MMH is freaking rocket fuel. Not just rocket fuel, but the absolute scariest meanest hypergolic fuel which is arguably reasonable to work with. By far my all-time favorite mushroom fact.
Mushrooms to the moon baby
I wonder if the explosive nature of monomethylhydrazine has ever gotten anyone to refer to false morels as "mushroom clouds/cloud mushrooms" considering that you could definitely use it as fuel for an ICBM.
Nobody: ...
Fungal metabolism: "have you considered... *epoxides*?"
Seriously, I see more epoxides amongst fungus metabolites than anything else. More proof all fungi were created during God's edgy goth phase.
When the mushroom you buy in the market is sus. In all seriousness great video. I would love to see more of these mycotoxin videos.
I started college a while ago, in the dorms we lived in there was a fridge. At the end of semesters we're supposed to take out everything and defrost the fridge. But this time, we done fucked up. Me and my homies did unplug the fridge but we forgot a whole bunch of ice cream in the freezer. We left and came back after winter break, plugged the fridge in and went to sleep. Next morning Holy Mother of Christ, when I opened the freezer, a strong odor that can only be best described as spoiled alcohol rushed upon me, damn thing was covered in FROZEN FUNGUS. With FROZEN MYCELIUM blanketing the ice cream box, growing all over the surface, partially submerged in ice, and lining the walls of the freezer like a damn curtain. The nasty grey-green shaggy "main fungus" (I don't know what it is) sits its monkey ass in the middle of the freezer surface. We carried the fridge to the restroom and cleaned it up using all the detergent and paper towels we have, trashed all of them as well as all the green shit, but it still reeked of that ethanol-like smell. It was the most epic moment of college yet. We vacated the dorm now but I KNOW, that spores are still hibernating in the fridge and one day, the empire will strike back. I remember every detail because this literally happened in January 3rd, 2022.
Ewwwwww
Ergotamine was also used as an abortifacent. Some people have suggested that tales of witches flying was the result of ergotamine poisoning - you can get the sensation that you're flying or floating - but it's just too dangerous to dose. The likely outcome of that would have been a lot of dead witches.
But maybe if you prepare it just right, Boil, boil, toil and trouble, add eye of newt, distill, frog legs and fish bones....etc etc, you can actually fly to the moon ;)
@@thatguy431 The more salient point,is not so much that witches were tripping on the fungus,but that other people were,in large numbers,without being aware of it,leading to the belief that they were being hexed,and thus ,witch trials.
I love these more biological chemistry type videos you have been doing recently! Maybe you could consider doing a video on phytochemicals which activate the transient receptor potential channels (e.g. capsaicin, Δ9-THC, CBD, vanillin, cinnamaldehyde, etc). It's a really interesting area of biochemistry/pharmacology. These chemicals are in a lot of spices!
I have migranes, they start every 2 or 3 weeks and last 1-3 days and can get really nasty like a ice pick in the head. I talked to a doctor about them back in like 2013 and was told I really didn't want to go on ergot based drugs unless it was really bad, and their effectiveness was hit or miss, the side effects god awful. Sometimes they work only to have the body somehow start neutralizing the drugs and so they quit working after being used for a time. Fast forward to 2021 and I asked my doctor about if there were any new medications. He lit up and said "We have this great new drug!" which are CGRP inhibitors. I tried it (Nurtec was the brand name) and it's been a bloody miracle pill. I don't get any side effects, few people do, and it knocks the headache down in 1-2 hours (for a 24-72 hour headache this is very acceptable timing) and I've never had it fail three years on. You might want to do a video looking at new drugs and their chemistry, there is a lot of new stuff coming out for things that in the past got kinda ignored by medicine or given just "it will have to be good enough" type drugs like ergot medications.
When I see a mushroom I say "There's a fungus amungus"
thanks i'll be sure to post your vid in the collage group chat, next year we will be getting into propper agricultural science and i believe disease management is a large part of it. this will really help.
also i really appreciate the inclusion of the links to the papers.
I’m glad to make videos for magnificent people such as yourself
This is a really interesting overview. I had heard that MMH was nasty, but I didn't know HOW nasty. (I guess @NileRed won't be making that one.) I imagine that some of these toxins might have medical applications, as penicillin did. So I would second the folks who ask about the beneficial compounds that fungi produce. You often hear about "medicinal" mushrooms (e.g., cordyceps, reishi, chaga, hericium) but it would be interesting to hear about which organic compounds might be involved in those purported benefits and how they work at a molecular level. It is clear that we are constantly ingesting and breathing a diverse fungal miasma that can affect our bodies in a variety of ways, many of them scary.
Could you cover Cyanobacteria toxins too? That stuff is terrifying.
What, you mean like oxygen? 😂 That was toxic for a while...
@@victordonchenko4837 no, they’re responsible for some efficient neurotoxins
@@b3dubbs72 Ah, I love when the neurotoxin is "efficient." It really makes my job so much easier.
@@victordonchenko4837 truly
@@victordonchenko4837 also they’ve covered this on the periodic videos channel. I just think that these algae blooms are important to discuss, as they may minimize death
Monomethyl hydrazine and its cousin assymetrical dimethyl hydrazine are used as the fuels for attitude and altatude correction thrusters in satellites and MIRV platforms when burned with dinitrigen pentoxide. Very high impulse power, and self igniting (hypergollic mixture ) 🤓
Cool!
These are some fascinating natural products you present. Thank you for that. It's interesting how the molecular mass of these compounds has such a wide spectrum (which means a wide spectrum of diffusiibility,too).
Glad you like them!
Legitimately those first mushrooms are delicious. They're like the only mushroom I like. You have to be extremely careful and diligent in preparing them tho
I've never heard of anyone eating false morels, in fact everything I've read warns against it. What are the steps you've used to prepare them?
@@PsilocybinSquiggles They are commonly eaten in Finland. Excellent as a creamy sauce for red meat. You boil them three times for five minutes. Discard the water and rinse the mushrooms each time. It is recommended to boil them outside. Otherwise you'll need good ventilation.
@@osteoclast6884 Mind: blown
Exactly what Osteoclast said. I think it's also important to note that the last case of a fatal poisoning (in Finland) happened in the 50s. And I remember being taught how to prepare them in like biology class in school.
As a biochemistry undergrad... keep doing what your doing! Love your vids.
Awesome! Thank you!
and PS you are great. You seem to be teaching that chemistry is really interesting, challenging but comprehensible and can even be fun, thank you
Thanks!
The false morel is considered a delicacy here, way too delicious to have hydrazine derivatives lmao
Wow those structures are insane! No idea how you'd make them.
Everyone is talking about how sus these fungi are but no one is talking about my man big potassium 😔
BK
If you do another one of these toxins and poisions videos I'd love it if you also included the LD50 of these compounds as well!
I did one - the mold one!
'The toxis fungus among us' lol the way you said that. Now my 4 and 2 yr olds want to know what was so funny
Fungus species just effortlessly generate these complex chemical compounds - impressive!
Yeah when you see what nature effortlessly produces with a bit of sun and sugar it make you want to give up lol
well "effortlessly" is a little misleading, the pathways for some of these are quite long and require many different enzymes and cofactors, just imagine the amount of ATP spent on producing some of these, from transcription, translation to sythesis of the matabolites for these compounds, actually insae if you think about how much is involved ;)
@@izarscharf7845
"Effortlessly" when compared to human efforts to make the same compounds, if it's even possible.
@@mikegLXIVMM Lol it took them hundreds of millions of years to evolve to produce, it takes us a few years or a few decades to figure out how to produce that, that's pretty insane. humans are smart af!
3:00 I thought that mushroom looked familiar and a quick google search proved my memory correct, (though it might not have been the exact same species)
Happy to say that the local thoughts about the mushroom somewhat matches your take on it. Don't eat it unless you're 100% sure how to cook it but even then it might not be the best choice of mushroom. They've gotten less and less popular over time as it's been recognized that it can be bad for your health even when cooked correctly so those who still partake don't do it very often.
I would love to see some Lithium-Fluorine compounds investigated. Those always react nicely, especially if you can squeeze lots of triple bonds in there
"This fungus can kill animals in higher doses. Oh and higher blood pressure."
haha
False morel makes amazing soup! one of the best tasting mushrooms :) but yeah parboiling and washing after every boiling is 100% necessary! Also we never picked if there wasnt enough for a few meals since its not worth the risk/hassle.
Your video titling is on point, as always
Omg all of them! But that S-S linkage in Glialtoxin looks so ultra bad. A 5 on health diamond symbol if existed. Super scary great video, very accurate.
Mushroom Fugu what a great idea!!! 🤣🤣
5:15 Lmao. Seeing pulmonary hemorrhaging just thrown in there among relatively mild symptoms.
Fungsus
I just about week ago made some soup with those funny looking gyromitrin containing mushroom. Here where I live they are considered a delicasy, cause they appear very few places and for very short time in early summer. They were boiled shortly two times+rinsed before making the soup.
@stephenjacks8196 - 2022-07-06
"Fungus, among us."
You're a a poet and don't know it.
A real Fun-guy.
@DanielGBenesScienceShows - 2022-07-06
I used to not like mushrooms, but after a while they grew on me.
@sagoot - 2022-07-19
There isn't much-room for imporvement after this one!
@casualsatanist5808 - 2022-07-27
That pun was quite polypoor
@DanielGBenesScienceShows - 2022-07-30
@@sagoot Hahaha!
@DanielGBenesScienceShows - 2022-07-30
@@casualsatanist5808 Hahaha!