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The Complex Structure of Fomes Fomentarius Represents an Architectural Design for High-Performance Ultralightweight Materials

Summary

This research examines how the tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius) creates an incredibly strong yet lightweight structure through clever biological engineering. The fungus builds its fruiting body using three distinct layers, each with unique properties that work together to create a durable material that has been used by humans for thousands of years. Understanding how this fungus builds such an effective structure could help us develop new sustainable materials for various applications. Impacts on everyday life: • Could lead to development of new sustainable, lightweight materials for construction and manufacturing • May inspire new designs for protective materials and packaging • Demonstrates potential for using fungi to create eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic materials • Could help advance development of medical materials and implants • Shows promise for creating new types of smart materials that can adapt and self-repair

Background

Many lightweight biological materials like wood, bone and silk exhibit exceptional strength, hardness and fracture toughness crucial for their physiological functions. These properties are not commonly associated with fungal bodies, yet the tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius produces lightweight polypore fruiting bodies that have been used for thousands of years as durable leathery materials. F. fomentarius is common across the Northern Hemisphere where it plays an important role in decomposing dead trees through white rot.

Objective

To analyze and characterize the complex structural, chemical and mechanical properties of F. fomentarius fruiting bodies and understand how their architectural design enables high-performance material properties.

Results

The study revealed that F. fomentarius is a functionally graded material with three distinct layers that undergo multiscale hierarchical self-assembly. The mycelium network shows unique characteristics in each layer including different orientations, aspect ratios, densities and branch lengths. An extracellular matrix acts as reinforcing adhesive that varies between layers in quantity, polymeric content and interconnectivity. The hymenophore tubes showed superior mechanical properties including ~10-fold higher maximum strength and Young’s modulus compared to the context layer, despite having higher porosity and lower density.

Conclusion

F. fomentarius fruiting bodies represent an ingenious lightweight biological design that achieves high mechanical performance through minimal variations in cell morphology and extracellular matrix composition. The findings provide insights for developing next-generation programmable materials with high-performance functionalities capable of sensing, learning, self-repair and adaptation.
  • Published in:Science Advances,
  • Study Type:Basic Research,
  • Source: 10.1126/sciadv.ade5417
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