The Intervention and Treatment based on the Poisoning Mechanism of Alpha‑amanitin

Abstract

Alpha-amanitin (AMA) are eight-amino-acid cyclic peptide with polar branches, which is produced in some specific genera of mushrooms. AMA is extremely toxic to humans, with LD50 (0.1 mg/kg). Due to AMA's special structure, it’s resistant to hot and cold. AMA’s structure and function cannot be destroyed and solved by high temperature cooking or refrigeration. For decades, scientists put effort and finding the fundamental mechanism that causes AMA’s lethal and uncurable. AMA in cell will bind to RNA polymerase and stop transcription. Recent research has shown that new biotechnologies have the potential to serve as new methods for screening drugs that control conditions caused by AMA. This article will focus on the recent diagnosis and treatment of AMA. There are some methods that have been used for long time and do slow down the rate of development caused by AMA. This article will talk about their advantage to use and the problem of these method. This article will also talk about the technology used to research AMA. With the development of genetic tools, scientists could determine the genetic level reason for AMA function in human body and do research on treatment and drugs based on the genetic result provided by biotech. Nowadays, the research on AMA still needs further work since now there is not a systematic method to diagnose AMA. The development of drugs for AMA is still in its early stages, which these factors need scientists to do more clinical tests on the drugs.