Enhanced Mycelium Biomass and Polysaccharide Production in Genetically Modified Pleurotus ostreatus Using Agricultural Wastes

Author: mycolabadmin
2024-10-01
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Summary

Scientists have genetically modified oyster mushrooms to produce more biomass and beneficial compounds when grown on agricultural waste products. This research represents an important step toward more sustainable food production systems that can help address climate change while creating nutritious food products. Impact on everyday life: • Provides a way to convert agricultural waste into valuable food products • Offers more sustainable alternatives to traditional protein sources • Helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food production • Creates new opportunities for producing health-promoting mushroom compounds • Contributes to developing more efficient and sustainable food systems

Background

Climate change and food system sustainability are major global challenges, with food systems responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. There is a growing need for plant-based and microbial-based foods that are both healthier for humans and more sustainable for the planet. Edible fungi represent a key opportunity to utilize agricultural wastes while producing nutritious food in bioreactors.

Objective

This study aimed to genetically modify Pleurotus ostreatus to overexpress phosphoglucomutase (PGM) to enhance mycelium biomass and polysaccharide production using agricultural waste substrates. The research focused on investigating the effects of PGM overexpression on mycelium growth, polysaccharide production, and improved utilization of agricultural byproducts.

Results

The modified Po::PGM strain showed 4.96-fold higher PGM expression levels compared to controls. It produced thicker mycelium with more branches and showed altered sensitivity to Ca2+ and cAMP. In submerged fermentation, Po::PGM achieved mycelia biomass yields of 11.18 g/l and endopolysaccharide production of 2.55 g/l, representing increases of 20.86% and 28.79% respectively. Using wheat bran substrate with lactose further enhanced yields, reaching 27.78 g/l biomass (199.03% increase) and 6.07 g/l endopolysaccharides (277.99% increase).

Conclusion

The genetic modification of P. ostreatus to overexpress PGM successfully enhanced both mycelium biomass and polysaccharide production when grown on agricultural waste substrates. The results demonstrate that manipulating the PGM gene can improve the efficient use of agricultural wastes for producing fungus-based foods, providing an important direction for developing more sustainable food production systems.

Published in:International Journal of Biological Macromolecules,
Study Type:Experimental Research,
Source: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.134318