A new mushroom hyperaccumulator: Cadmium and arsenic in the ectomycorrhizal basidiomycete Thelephora penicillata.

Fruit-bodies of six Thelephora species (Fungi, Basidiomycota, Thelephoraceae) were analyzed for their trace element concentrations. In Thelephora penicillata, extremely high concentrations of Cd and As were found, followed by highly elevated concentrations of Cu and Zn. The highest accumulation ability was found for Cd with a mean concentration of 1.17 ± 0.37 g kg (dry mass) in fruit-bodies collected from 20 unpolluted sites; the mean As concentration was 0.878 ± 0.242 g kg. Furthermore, striking accumulation of Se (923 ± 28 mg kg) was found in one sample of T. vialis and elevated concentrations of S were detected in T. palmata (19.6 ± 5.9 g kg). The analyzed Thelephora species were sequenced and, based on the Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analysis (ITS rDNA) of the genus, possible other Thelephora (hyper)accumulators were predicted on the basis of their phylogenetic relationship with the discovered (hyper)accumulators. The striking ability of T. penicillata to accumulate simultaneously Cd, As, Cu, and Zn has no parallel in the Fungal Kingdom and raises the question of a biological importance of metal(loid) hyperaccumulation in mushrooms.