2026-02-18 ウィスコンシン大学マディソン校
Death cap mushrooms growing in their native European habitat (Photo by Anne Pringle)
<関連情報>
- https://ls.wisc.edu/news/the-changing-chemistry-of-invasive-death-cap-mushrooms
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2529748123
リーダーレスRiPPは真菌の二次代謝産物のレパートリーを拡大する Leaderless RiPPs expand the repertoire of fungal secondary metabolites
Sung Chul Park, Livia D. S. Oster, Jacob Golan, +3 , and Nancy P. Keller
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Published:February 11, 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2529748123
Significance
Identifying a novel subclass of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) in fungi, a subclass lacking a leader sequence, challenges the traditional understanding of fungal RiPPs. By linking MSDIN genes to leaderless peptides in Amanita phalloides, we provide empirical evidence of leaderless RiPPs in fungi. Significantly higher levels of leaderless RiPP expression in invasive populations suggest non-canonical RiPPs play important transcriptomic and ecological roles in the invasion biology of the world’s deadliest mushroom.
Abstract
Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are secondary metabolites produced by bacteria, plants, animals, and fungi. Canonical fungal RiPP precursors possess a leader sequence cleaved during maturation. The first RiPPs described in fungi were the MSDIN-derived peptides responsible for the toxicity of lethal Amanita mushrooms. In this study, we upend the conventional understanding of fungal RiPPs, discovering a subclass that has diversified and lacks a leader sequence, an empirical example of leaderless RiPPs in fungi. We use a combinatorial analysis of NMR and MS/MS with an updated bioinformatic pipeline to pair MSDIN genes to leaderless peptides in Amanita phalloides, a European species spreading in California. Leaderless MSDIN transcripts are expressed several orders of magnitude more than most canonical MSDINs, with significantly higher expression in invasive populations. Our results redefine the understanding of fungal RiPP architectures and suggest differential regulation of non-canonical RiPPs may contribute to the invasion biology of the world’s deadliest mushroom.
