A family, while on a picnic, picked some wild mushrooms to add to their picnic salad. Shortly thereafter, all the members of the family became ill, with the youngest child showing the most severe symptoms. The family is suffering these effects owing to a primary inability to accomplish which one of the following in their cells and tissues?
The poison in poisonous mushrooms is a-amanitin, an inhibitor of eukaryotic RNA polymerases, primarily RNA polymerase II. As the family ate the mushrooms containing the poison, RNA polymerase II stopped functioning, and mRNA was no longer produced. This led to a lack of protein synthesis. There is no direct effect on the synthesis of lipids, carbohydrate, or DNA, other than replacing the required enzymes due to protein turnover. However, the net effect of a-amanitin poisoning would be to stop protein synthesis, which may then lead to a cessation of lipid or DNA synthesis. a-Amanitin has no direct effect on DNA repair.
Synthesize proteins
Synthesize lipids
Synthesize DNA
Synthesize carbohydrates
Molecular Genetics