Amatoxins

A family of exceptionally potent toxins made by several Amanita mushrooms, including the death cap (Amanita phalloides), the destroying angel (A. virosa) and the fool’s mushroom (A. verna). These bicyclic octapeptides survive cooking, freezing and stomach acid, then shut down RNA polymerase II in liver and kidney cells, halting protein synthesis. Poisoning follows a cruel pattern: severe abdominal pain, relentless vomiting and watery diarrhoea, a deceptive recovery, then liver and kidney failure several days later, often ending in death. There is no reliable antidote, so prevention means never eating wild mushrooms unless identified with certainty by an expert.