Professor Ki Hyun, KIM’s Research team, providesNecessity and Introduction to Secondary Metabolite of Poisonous Mushrooms

[Photo] from lef Dr. Seung Lak Lee, first co-author Seul Ah Lee,  Dr. Je Shik Ryu, Professor Ki Hyun Kim

SKKU Professor Ki Hyun Kim (Department of Pharmacy)'s research team (first co-author Seul Ah Lee,  Dr. Je Shik Ryu,  Dr. Seung Lak Lee) provided future research directions. It explained a detailed research trend of poisonous mushrooms' secondary metabolites investigated.

Mushrooms that are harmful to humans or mushrooms that cause hallucination are mainly the two categorizations of mushrooms. Most toxic mushrooms only cause stomachache-level issues but may even cause death if things go wrong. On the other hand, hallucination-related mushrooms show pleasing effects if the amount of dose is not lethal. Recently many countries have reported mushroom poisoning accidents that damaged many people, in some cases, death, but research about the metabolite of poisonous mushrooms has not been active. The investigation of poisonous mushrooms' metabolites provides an understanding of their life cycle and can be applied to cure or prevent poisoning accidents. Also, the biological features of the mushroom's poison may be used for medications.

Since the number of people who study the secondary metabolite of poisonous mushrooms is scarce globally, the research team is diligently investigating it with a sense of duty. Even though toxic mushrooms are considered fearsome figures and have a more vital perception that they would be dangerous, it is prevalent in our surroundings, can be utlized in positive aspect. and continuous research is necessary considering that this is scientific research that discovers unknown facts and information.

Professor Ki Hyun Kim, the leader of this research, anticipated that this research would contribute to the prevention and cure of domestic mushroom poisoning accidents and predicted that if the toxicity of poisonous mushrooms is modified correctly, it can get developed into new medicine.

The results of this research are published in the global academic journal of organic chemistry, Natural Product Reports (IF = 13.423), 2022 March edition. The research was sponsored by: the Ministry of Science and ICT, the basic research support project (mid-size research), and Medical Research Center promoted by the National Research Foundation of Korea.

※ Paper Title: Non-peptide secondary metabolites from poisonous mushrooms: overview of chemistry, bioactivity, and biosynthesis

※Reseach title: Non-peptide secondary metabolites from poisonous mushrooms: overview of chemistry, bioactivity, and biosynthesis