It has been known since the 1970s that differences exist in the profile of element content in wild-growing mushroom species, although knowledge of the role of mushroom species/families as determinants in the accumulation of diverse element remains limited. The aim of this study was to determine the content of 63 mineral elements, divided into six separate groups in the fruit bodies of 17 wild-growing mushroom species. The mushrooms, growing in widely ranging types of soil composition, were collected in Poland in 2018. Lepista nuda and Paralepista gilva contained not only the highest content of essential major (531 and 14,800 mg kg-1, respectively of Ca and P) and trace elements (425 and 66.3 mg kg-1, respectively of Fe and B) but also a high content of trace elements with a detrimental health effect (1.39 and 7.29 mg kg-1, respectively of Tl and Ba). A high content of several elements (Al, B, Ba, Bi, Ca, Er, Fe, Mg, Mo, P, Sc, Ti or V) in L. nuda, Lepista personata, P. gilva and/or Tricholoma equestre fruit bodies belonging to the Tricholomataceae family suggests that such species may be characterised by the most effective accumulation of selected major or trace elements. On the other hand, mushrooms belonging to the Agaricaceae family (Agaricus arvensis, Coprinus comatus and Macrolepiota procera) were characterised by significant differences in the content of all determined elements jointly, which suggests that a higher content of one or several elements is mushroom species-dependent. Graphical abstract.

• Keywords
• Accumulation, Mineral elements, Mushroom family, Mushroom species, Wild-growing mushrooms,
• MeSH
• Agaricales * MeSH
• Agaricus MeSH
• Coprinus MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Minerals analysis   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Poland MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Minerals MeSH

The arsenic speciation was determined in macrofungi of the Ramaria genus with HPLC coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Besides arsenic species that are already known for macrofungi, like arsenobetaine or arsenocholine, two compounds that were only known from marine samples so far (trimethylarsoniopropanate and dimethylarsinoylacetate) were found for the first time in a terrestrial sample. An unknown arsenical was isolated and identified as homoarsenocholine. This could be a key intermediate for further elucidation of the biotransformation mechanisms of arsenic.

• Keywords
• (3-hydroxypropyl) trimethylarsonium ion, Arsenic speciation, Fungi, Homoarsenocholine, ICPMS, Ramaria,
• MeSH
• Acetates chemistry   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Arsenicals chemistry   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Basidiomycota chemistry   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Acetates MeSH
• Arsenicals MeSH
• dimethylarsinoylacetic acid MeSH Browser

Arsenic and its species were investigated for the first time in nine collections of Elaphomyces spp. ("deer truffles") from the Czech Republic with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to ICPMS. The total arsenic concentrations ranged from 12 to 42 mg kg-1 dry mass in samples of E. asperulus and from 120 to 660 mg kg-1 dry mass in E. granulatus and E. muricatus. These concentrations are remarkably high for terrestrial organisms and demonstrate the arsenic-accumulating ability of these fungi. The dominating arsenic species in all samples was methylarsonic acid which accounted for more than 30% of the extractable arsenic. Arsenobetaine, dimethylarsinic acid, and inorganic arsenic were present as well, but only at trace concentrations. Surprisingly, we found high amounts of trimethylarsine oxide in all samples (0.32-28% of the extractable arsenic). Even more remarkable was that all but two samples contained significant amounts of the highly toxic trivalent arsenic compound methylarsonous acid (0.08-0.73% of the extractable arsenic). This is the first report of the occurrence of trimethylarsine oxide and methylarsonous acid at significant concentrations in a terrestrial organism. Our findings point out that there is still a lot to be understood about the biotransformation pathways of arsenic in the terrestrial environment. Graphical abstract Trimethylarsine oxide and methylarsonous acid in "deer truffles".

• Keywords
• Arsenic speciation, Deer truffles, Elaphomyces, Fungi, Methylarsonous acid, Trimethylarsine oxide,
• MeSH
• Arsenicals analysis   isolation & purification   MeSH
• Eurotiales chemistry   MeSH
• Mass Spectrometry methods   MeSH
• Environmental Monitoring methods   MeSH
• Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid methods   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Arsenicals MeSH
• monomethylarsonic acid MeSH Browser
• trimethylarsine oxide MeSH Browser