Equipped for success: genomes and metabolomes of the European <i>Amanita muscaria</i> are conserved in its novel South African range
Plants and soils have been moved around the world for centuries, but invasive mushrooms receive scant attention. The Amanita muscaria species complex was introduced to South Africa in the context of forestry, but its origins, ecology and recent evolution are unstudied. We sequenced the genomes of 24 Northern and Southern Hemisphere A. muscaria, built phylogenies and reconstructed its South African history. We identified the biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding specialized metabolites (SMs). We subsequently extracted mushrooms' metabolites and used mass spectrometry data to group SMs into unique molecular families (MFs). We tested metabolites for bioactivity against diverse microbes and animals. We identify Europe as the origin of South African A. muscaria. A highly conserved group of BGCs is found in nearly all European and African genomes, and only 13 of 273 MFs are unique to South Africa. Metabolites extracted from all mushrooms kill nematodes, while microbes and flies appear unaffected. The nearly global distribution of the fly agaric results from multiple introductions of a single European clade to the Southern Hemisphere. Despite its long history in South Africa, the fungus has not lost any of its BGCs, suggesting a conservation of function(s) across multiple continents.
Authors
- Cecelia Stokes
- Milton T. Drott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9715-2200)
- Savannah R. Fuqua (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5139-9603)
- Kerri L. Coon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2701-5195)
- Yen‐Wen Wang
- A. J. Nieuwoudt
- Nam Q. Pham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4938-9067)
- Travis K. Worley
- Frances A. Lane (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9103-7938)
- Brooke M. Allen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6000-9061)
- Jason D. Hoeksema (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2338-8442)
- Sikelela Buthelezi
- Lauren R. Corby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2928-8154)
- Claudette Dewing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6208-1721)
- Kaetlyn T. Ryan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2051-7969)
- Kira M. T. Lynn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0533-0458)
- Jin Woo Bok (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4394-2749)
- Mostafa Zamanian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9233-1760)
- Anne Pringle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-6739)
- M. J. Wingfield
- Grant Nickles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0234-8049)
- Mathew A. Harris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4310-1146)
- Sung Chul Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9081-7992)
- Katlego Kopotsa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4062-9762)
- Harvey Nichols
- Christopher P. Bivins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6228-8212)
- Martin P. A. Coetzee
- Tuan A. Duong
- Jasmine Marea Wallace
- J. Stephen Brewer
- Taylor A. Zallek
- Rytas Vilgalys
- Nancy P. Keller
- Jahiya P. R. M. Clark
- Deborah L. Narh
- Martin A. Nuñez
- Brenda D. Wingfield
- Myriam Solís
- Corbin Bryan
- Miguel E. Medina Munoz
Institutions
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Wisconsin System (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of California, Merced (US)
- Duke University (US)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Yale University (US)
- University of Mississippi (US)
- Northern Research Station (US)
- Cereal Disease Laboratory (US)
- National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (ZA)
- University of Houston (US)
- Mississippi Valley State University (US)
- Jackson State University (US)
- University of Pretoria (ZA)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- New Phytologist
- Published
- 2026-03-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71064
- Primary Topic
- Silymarin and Mushroom Poisoning
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00