Scientists Find a Possible Antidote for the Death Cap Mushroom

The mushroom poison believed to have felled emperors might be treatable, thanks to CRISPR

The death cap mushroom's name is appropriate, given that is responsible for 90% of the mushroom fatalities yearly.  The toxin in the mushroom causes seizures, violent vomiting, severe liver damage and death. 

Now, a team of scientists in China, using a method developed several years ago to find an antidote for jellyfish venom, zeroed in on a biochemical pathway in humans that the mushrooms' toxins use to enter cells. The also found an antidote, a chemical named indocyanine green, that interrupts that pathway. 

CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology was used to build a pool of human cells, each with a mutation in a different gene. Tests were done to determine which mutations helped the cells to survive exposure to the toxin in the death cap mushroom.

You can read more about this discovery in Nature News and Comment.