Abstract
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 abstractTrimethylarsine oxide and methylarsonous acid in “deer truffles”
Highlights
Arsenic is occurring in the environment in many chemical forms
In order to be able to compare the results with the dried samples, the individual water content values were used to convert the results of the fresh samples into concentrations on a dry mass basis
We found small amounts of some unknown arsenic species
Summary
Arsenic is occurring in the environment in many chemical forms. Distinguishing between these different compounds is essential, because arsenic’s toxicity strongly depends on theParts of this work were presented at Anakon 2017 in Tübingen, Germany. Arsenic is occurring in the environment in many chemical forms Distinguishing between these different compounds is essential, because arsenic’s toxicity strongly depends on the. The arsenic concentrations and arsenic speciation are completely different from the terrestrial environment. Depending on the fungal species, they can have high concentrations of total arsenic as marine organisms (up to more than 1000 mg kg−1 dm) [17, 18]. Macrofungi are one of the few terrestrial organisms that can contain AB as main arsenic species [19, 20]. MA is most often only present at very low concentrations, or even not at all, and only rarely a major constituent of the fungal arsenic speciation [19]. TMAO, arsenocholine (AC), the tetramethyl arsonium ion (TETRA), and arsenosugars have been found much more seldom in macrofungi, and mostly only at trace concentrations [22]
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