Biology 3218F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Maple Syrup, Ergotism, Ergotamine
20 Sep 2016
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When you get fresh peanuts, don"t eat mouldy ones. As seen under sem on the bottom: stem comes up and there is a head surrounded by cells that produce conidia (asexual spores) Claviceps form sclerotia in heads of rye or wheat or barley (most often rye) They"re about the same size; a little bit longer in many cases. When rye is harvested, sclerotia are harvested together w/ the seeds. When ground into flour, and then ingested, fingers and toes will fall off (st. anthony"s fire = ergot poisoning) Ergotamine is a toxic chemical which causes vasoconstriction so blood flow stops. Not the only thing in sclerotia; also hallucinogenic, and was the first source of lsd. Bottom left is ergot; sclerotia is darker thing on wheat. In the spring, mushrooms whose heads look like the mushroom on the left, perithecia have ascospores that fly off and infect other rye grain.
