You Are What You Eat: How Fungal Adaptation Can Be Leveraged toward Myco-Material Properties

Author: mycolabadmin
11/8/2023
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Summary

Fungi can be grown to create eco-friendly materials that could replace plastics and petroleum-based products. By controlling what fungi eat and where they grow, scientists can engineer the properties of these materials to be stronger, more flexible, or water-resistant. This approach leverages the natural ability of fungi to break down organic matter and adapt to their environment. Companies like IKEA and Dell are already using these fungal materials in product packaging.

Background

Myco-materials derived from fungal mycelium represent a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based materials for various applications. The properties of these biobased and biodegradable materials are shaped by fungal genetics and environmental growth conditions. Understanding how fungi adapt to their surroundings provides opportunities to engineer functional mycelium materials with desired properties.

Objective

This perspective examines how fungal genetics and environmental adaptation can be leveraged toward producing functional mycelium materials with reliable and robust properties. The work explores how nutrition, growth conditions, and substrate composition influence mycelium composition and material outcomes. The authors aim to identify key levers that can be turned to design myco-materials for traditional petroleum-based applications.

Results

The review identifies fungal species, cell wall composition, genetic pathways, nutrition, and environmental conditions as critical factors controlling myco-material properties. Genetic engineering can modify enzyme secretion, cell wall composition, and growth patterns. Dietary modifications and inclusion of non-nutritive elements influence hyphal morphology, chitin content, and mechanical properties. Environmental parameters like temperature, pH, and gas composition enable tuning of fungal growth and material characteristics.

Conclusion

Myco-material properties can be systematically engineered by leveraging fungal adaptation through both genetic and environmental approaches. The interplay between what fungi eat and where they grow provides powerful tools for designing functional, sustainable, biobased materials. Future research should focus on elucidating mechanisms connecting fungal metabolism to material properties and exploring applications in textiles, packaging, and other fields traditionally dependent on petroleum-derived materials.

Published in:Global Challenges,
Study Type:Review,
Source: PMID: 38486929, DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202300140