Paper shows that Aspergillius fungi release LSD-like drugs into air in significant amounts - could be part of the reason they cause probs..

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In the paper

Abundant Respirable Ergot Alkaloids from the Common Airborne Fungus

*Aspergillus

fumigatus*[image:

{dagger}]<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#\

FN1>

* G.

Panaccione*<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=1593300\

8#COR1>and

M. Coyle

*at

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106

the authors prove that Aspergillius is capable of producing rather high

amounts of ergot alkaloids,

- which are complex, pharmacologically active compounds that are related to

the hallucinogenic drug LSD.

Excerpt:

" The number of *A. fumigatus* conidia available in the air depends on the

substrate and the environment in which the fungus is growing. Under

favorable conditions the fungus can sporulate prolifically. A typical

culture of *A. fumigatus* on PDA can yield [image: ~]109 conidia per cm2 of

culture surface area. The number of viable *A. fumigatus* conidia per m3 of

air ranges from 0 to 200 CFU in clean environments

(27<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R27>)

to 107 CFU near composting facilities

(12<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R12>)

to 1011 CFU near moldy hay or other stored organic materials

(27<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R27>).

If the intake rate was 0.63 m3 of air per h

(32<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R32>),

the conidial ergot alkaloid content was 1% by mass, and there was no further

ergot alkaloid production after inhalation of the fungus, the ergot alkaloid

dose would range from 3.7 pg per h (at 200 CFU/m3) to 180 ng per h (at

107CFU per m

3) to 1.8 mg per h (at 1011 CFU per m3). An interesting point of reference is

that an ingested dose of the illicit and highly active ergot alkaloid

lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) can range from hundreds of nanograms to

hundreds of micrograms

(1<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R1>),

but based on U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency data the dose is frequently in the

range from 20 to 80 µg (http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofax/lsd.html). To inhale

a comparable mass of *A. fumigatus* ergot alkaloids in 1 h would require

exposure to 107 to 1010 CFU per m3. Such high concentrations of conidia are

encountered only rarely. A more practical issue to consider is whether there

are potential health effects of a less remarkable nature (e.g.,

effects on depression,

blood pressure, or sleep-wake cycles) that are associated with chronic daily

doses of ergot alkaloids in the nanogram to microgram range. This issue has

not been investigated.

The toxicity of the particular ergot alkaloids associated with *A. fumigatus

* conidia has not been studied extensively, but the available data suggest

that these mycotoxins have considerable biological activity. Similar to

other ergot alkaloids that have been studied, festuclavine interacts with

receptors for serotonin, dopamine, and [image: {alpha}]-adrenaline

(7<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R7>,

14<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R14>,

24<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R24>,

25<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R25>).

Festuclavine and synthetic derivatives of festuclavine also are cytostatic

in in vitro assays with several bacteria and mouse lymphoma cell lines

(7<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R7>,

8 <http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R8>).

Moreover, festuclavine is unique among the naturally occurring ergot

alkaloids in that it is directly mutagenic in the Ames test

(15<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R15>).

In the only published animal study of fumigaclavine C, ingestion of

relatively crude preparations of this ergot alkaloid greatly reduced feed

intake by treated calves and caused hemorrhagic enteritis of the small and

large intestines, as well as patchy interstitial thickening of alveolar

walls of the animals

(3<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R3>

).

Demonstration of the presence of ergot alkaloids at relatively high

concentrations in or on conidia of *A. fumigatus* does not ipso facto

indicate that the toxins play a role in pathogenesis, other health effects,

or any specific aspect of the biology of the fungus. However, it does raise

interesting questions for further research. Studies with ergot

alkaloid-deficient mutants, such as the *dmaW* knockout strain described in

the accompanying paper

(4<http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/71/6/3106?view=long & pmid=15933008#R4>),

should be useful for assessing the contribution of ergot alkaloids to

virulence to animals or potential contributions of the alkaloids to the

ecological success of *A. fumigatus*. Since minimization of the mass of a

conidium appears to have been selected for in this fungus, the presence of

alkaloids in quantities that exceed 1% of the mass of the conidium should have

been selected against unless they provided some advantage to the fungus. "