612 VENTURELLA ET AL.: JOURNAL OF AOAC INTERNATIONAL VOL. 97, NO. 2, 2014 The Mineral Contents of Some Boletaceae Species from Sicily (Southern Italy) GIUSEPPE VENTURELLA, MARIA LETIZIA GARGANO, RICCARDO COMPAGNO, and ALESSANDRO SAITTA University of Palermo, Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Viale delle Scienze, I-90128 Palermo, Italy MARIA GRAZIA ALAIMO University of Palermo, Department of Earth and Sea Science, Via Archirafi 22, I-90123 Palermo, Italy Received June 25, 2012. Accepted by AK August 20, 2012. Corresponding author’s e-mail: giuseppe.venturella@unipa.it DOI: 10.5740/jaoacint.12-260 RESIDUES AND TRACE ELEMENTS Data on the accumulation of metals in wild edible and inedible macrofungi of the Boletaceae family are discussed here and compared with data reported in literature from northern Italy and other European countries, as well as from China, Brazil, and Africa. The results show a significant difference in the values detected in Sicilian fungi compared to those reported in the literature. M acrofungi can accumulate high concentrations of heavy metals (1). Rühling et al. (2) demonstrated how individual fungal species were affected by metal pollution, and how macrofungi and microfungi differ in their response to metal pollution. The accumulation of several heavy metals and lanthanides in Amanita flavorubescens G.F. Atk.; A. rubescens Pers. var. rubescens; and Russula pectinatoides Peck was reported by Aruguete et al. (3). Studies on the effects and responses to heavy metal exposure in macromycetes have focused on edible and poisonous saprophytic and ectomycorrhizal fungi such as Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.) P. Kumm. (4), Suillus luteus (L.) Roussel (5), Paxillus involutus (Batsch) Fr. (6, 7), and Hebeloma crustuliniforme (Bull.) Quél. (8). Allen and Steinnes (9) and Collin-Hansen et al. (10, 11) reported high concentrations of Cd, Zn, Hg, and Cu in Boletus edulis Bull. basidiomata growing in both uncontaminated and polluted areas. The contents of several mineral elements in higher fungi have been reported, including metals as well as nonmetallic elements, by Vetter (12–15). An investigation of heavy metal levels in edible, inedible, and poisonous macrofungi collected in Turkey was carried out by Isildak (16), Yilmaz et al. (17), Yesil et al. (18, 19), and Durkan et al. (20). Aloupi et al. (21) published an assessment of the Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn contents in wild edible mushrooms from the island of Lesvos (Greece). Contributions to the knowledge of the heavy metal content in edible mushrooms from northern Italy were published by Cocchi et al. (22) and Cenci et al. (23). The lack of appropriate studies in the southernmost regions of Italy stimulated our interest in analyzing the metal content of some wild edible, inedible, and poisonous macrofungi growing in Sicily (southern Italy). Experimental Sampling Nine basidiomata of seven wild mushrooms species belonging to the family Boletaceae Chevall., i.e., B. reticulatus Schaeff., B. impolitus Fr., B. lupinus Fr., B. queletii Schulzer (from two different locations), B. rhodoxanthus (Krombh.) Kallenb., B. satanas Lenz, and Leccinellum lepidum (H. Bouchet ex Essette) Bresinsky & Manfr. Binder (from two different locations) were collected in broad-leaved and conifer forest ecosystems. The mushroom samples were cleaned of forest debris (without washing) with a brush, transported to the laboratory, and kept at –4°C for no more than 24 h prior to sample preparation. Identification was carried out using fresh basidiomata, and samples of each species were assayed individually. Every sample comprised a complete basidiomata (cap, hymenium, and stipe). The macromorphological characteristics were evaluated with a Leica (Leica Microsystems srl, Via Ettore Bugatti 12, Milano, Italy) MS5 binocular microscope as follows: pileus (size, shape, color, surface, shape, and surface of margin, and flesh); characteristics of tubules and pores; stipe (size, attachment, shape, surface, color and color changes, consistency, and flesh); growth habit; basidiomata attachment to the substrate; and spore colors. The microscopic features (spores, cystidia, basidia, basidioles, hyphal systems, hyphal walls, septations, hyphal branching, hyphal inflations, and specialized hypha) were evaluated with a Leica DLMB microscope using tap water and chemical reagents such as 95% ethanol, 3% potassium hydroxide (KOH) or 5–10% ammonium hydroxide (NH 4 OH), Teepol, acetocarmine, chloral hydrate, Congo red, cotton blue, cresyl blue, fuchsin, guaiac, hydrochloric acid, Melzer’s reagent, methylene blue, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sulfobenzaldehyde, and sulfuric acid. The species were identified according to Breitenbach and Kränzlin (24) (1991). The herbarium specimens were prepared in a hamper ventilator and kept in the Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum. The scientific binomials and trinomials of the recorded taxa are according to the www.indexfungorum.org/ Names/Names.asp website. The collection sites and sample code are reported in Figure 1 and listed below: Province of Palermo.—Monte Pizzuta, carbonate rocks, samples code A1, A3; Bosco Pomieri, carbonate rocks, samples code A2; Piano Torre, carbonate rocks, samples code A4; Piano della Madonna, carbonate rocks, samples code A9. Province of Agrigento.—Pizzo Mondello, clay, samples code A5. Province of Messina.—Passo Taverna, flyschoid, samples code A6, A7; Bosco di Scavioli, flyschoid, samples code A8. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jaoac/article/97/2/612/5654725 by guest on 13 January 2023