Fluorescent Random Amplified Microsatellites (F-RAMS) analysis of mushrooms as a forensic investigative tool

The capability of Fluorescent Random Amplified Microsatellites (F-RAMS) to profile hallucinogenic mushrooms to species and sub-species level was assessed. Fifteen samples of Amanita rubescens and 22 samples of other hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic mushrooms of the genera Amanita and Psilocybe were profiled using two fluorescently-labeled, 5′degenerate primers, 5′-6FAM-SpC3-DD (CCA)5 and 5′-6FAM-SpC3-DHB (CGA)5, which target different microsatellite repeat regions. Among the two primers, 5′-6FAM-SpC3-DHB (CGA)5 provided more reliable data for identification purposes, by grouping samples of the same species and clustering closely related species together in a dendrogram based on amplicon similarities. A high degree of intra-specific variation between the 15 A. rubescens samples was shown with both primers and the amplicons generated for all A. rubescens samples were organized into three classes of amplicons (discriminant, private, and marker) based on their individualizing potential.