Amanitins

A class of amatoxins — also known as amanitoxins or amantines — the bicyclic octapeptide toxins produced by deadly Amanita mushrooms. They inhibit RNA polymerase II, halting protein synthesis and causing liver and kidney failure days after ingestion, when treatment is often too late and the meal long forgotten. Their delayed, devastating action makes amanitin poisoning the most feared of all mushroom toxicities: victims feel better before they collapse. No cooking destroys them, no antidote reliably reverses them — only rapid, expert medical care offers hope.