Uncovering the transcriptional landscape of Fomes fomentarius during fungal-based material production through gene co-expression network analysis.

Background: Fungal-based composites have emerged as renewable, high-performance biomaterials that are produced on lignocellulosic residual streams from forestry and agriculture. Production at an industrial scale promises to revolutionize the world humans inhabit by generating sustainable, low emission, non-toxic and biodegradable construction, packaging, textile, and other materials. The polypore Fomes fomentarius is one of the basidiomycete species used for biomaterial production, yet nothing is known about the transcriptional basis of substrate decomposition, nutrient uptake, or fungal growth during composite formation.

The antifungal peptide AnAFP from promotes nutrient mobilization through autophagic recycling during asexual development.

Antifungal peptides are promising drug candidates to fight fungal infections in the clinics and agriculture. However, recent data suggest that antifungal peptides might also play a role within their own producing organism to survive nutrient limiting conditions. We have therefore studied the function of the antifungal AnAFP in in more detail.

Patent landscape analysis for materials based on fungal mycelium: a guidance report on how to interpret the current patent situation.

Background: Recent advancements in the collaboration between two scientific disciplines-fungal biotechnology and materials sciences-underscore the potential of fungal mycelium as renewable resource for sustainable biomaterials that can be harnessed in different industries. As fungal mycelium can be biotechnologically obtained from different filamentous fungi and is as a material very versatile, respective research and commercial application should be thriving. However, some granted patents in the field of fungal mycelium-based materials have caused uncertainty in the community as to which subject matter is patent-protected and for how long the protection is expected to last.

Investigation of the interface of fungal mycelium composite building materials by means of low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy.

Low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy (low-vacuum SEM) is widely used for different applications, such as the investigation of noncoated specimen or the observation of biological materials, which are not stable to high vacuum. In this study, the combination of mineral building materials (concrete or clay plaster) with a biological composite (fungal mycelium composite) by using low-vacuum SEM was investigated. Fungal biotechnology is increasingly gaining prominence in addressing the challenges of sustainability transformation.

Breaking down barriers: comprehensive functional analysis of the Aspergillus niger chitin synthase repertoire.

Background: Members of the fungal kingdom are heterotrophic eukaryotes encased in a chitin containing cell wall. This polymer is vital for cell wall stiffness and, ultimately, cell shape. Most fungal genomes contain numerous putative chitin synthase encoding genes.

Mechanical, physical and thermal properties of composite materials produced with the basidiomycete Fomes fomentarius.

Background: To achieve climate neutrality, fundamentally new concepts of circularity need to be implemented by the building sector as it contributes to 40% of anthropogenic CO emission. Fungal biotechnology can make a significant contribution here and help eliminate fossil dependency for building material production. Recently, we have shown that the medicinal polypore Fomes fomentarius feeds well on renewable lignocellulosic biomass and produces composite materials that could potentially replace fossil fuel-based expanded polystyrene as insulation material.

Transcriptomic insights into the roles of the transcription factors Clr1, Clr2 and Clr4 in lignocellulose degradation of the thermophilic fungal platform .

, formerly known as , is used in industry to produce lignocellulolytic enzymes and heterologous proteins. However, the transcriptional network driving the expression of these proteins remains elusive. As a first step to systematically uncover this network, we investigated growth, protein secretion, and transcriptomic fingerprints of strains deficient in the cellulolytic transcriptional regulators Clr1, Clr2, and Clr4, respectively.

Characterization of β-lactoglobulin adsorption on silica membrane pore surfaces and its impact on membrane emulsification processes.

Protein adsorption plays a key role in membrane fouling in liquid processing, but the specific underlying molecular mechanisms of β-lactoglobulin adsorption on ceramic silica surfaces in premix membrane emulsification have not been investigated yet. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the β-lactoglobulin adsorption and its effect on the premix membrane emulsification of β-lactoglobulin-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. In particular, the conformation, molecular interactions, layer thickness, surface energy of the adsorbed β-lactoglobulin and resulting droplet size distribution are investigated in relation to the solvent properties (aggregation state of β-lactoglobulin) and the treatment of the silica surface (hydrophilization).

as a cell factory for the production of pyomelanin, a molecule with UV-C radiation shielding activity.

Melanins are complex pigments with various biological functions and potential applications in space exploration and biomedicine due to their radioprotective properties. Aspergillus niger, a fungus known for its high radiation resistance, is widely used in biotechnology and a candidate for melanin production. In this study, we investigated the production of fungal pyomelanin (Pyo) in by inducing overproduction of the pigment using L-tyrosine in a recombinant Δ mutant strain (OS4.

Synchrotron radiation-based microcomputed tomography for three-dimensional growth analysis of Aspergillus niger pellets.

Filamentous fungi produce a wide range of relevant biotechnological compounds. The close relationship between fungal morphology and productivity has led to a variety of analytical methods to quantify their macromorphology. Nevertheless, only a µ-computed tomography (µ-CT) based method allows a detailed analysis of the 3D micromorphology of fungal pellets.

Regression modelling of conditional morphogene expression links and quantifies the impact of growth rate, fitness and macromorphology with protein secretion in Aspergillus niger.

Background: Filamentous fungi are used as industrial cell factories to produce a diverse portfolio of proteins, organic acids, and secondary metabolites in submerged fermentation. Generating optimized strains for maximum product titres relies on a complex interplay of molecular, cellular, morphological, and macromorphological factors that are not yet fully understood.

Results: In this study, we generate six conditional expression mutants in the protein producing ascomycete Aspergillus niger and use them as tools to reverse engineer factors which impact total secreted protein during submerged growth.

Confirmation of the Disulfide Connectivity and Strategies for Chemical Synthesis of the Four-Disulfide-Bond-Stabilized Antifungal Protein, AFP.

Emerging fungal infections require new, more efficient antifungal agents and therapies. AFP, a protein from with four disulfide bonds, is a promising candidate because it selectively inhibits the growth of filamentous fungi. In this work, the reduced form of AFP was prepared using native chemical ligation.

Protocol for gene characterization in Aspergillus niger using 5S rRNA-CRISPR-Cas9-mediated Tet-on inducible promoter exchange.

This protocol presents an efficient genetic strategy to investigate gene function in the fungus Aspergillus niger. We combined 5S rRNA-CRISPR-Cas9 technology with Tet-on gene switch to generate conditional-expression mutants via precisely replacing native promoter with inducible promoter. We describe the design and DNA preparation for sgRNAs and donor DNA.

Quantitative phenotypic screens of Aspergillus niger mutants in solid and liquid culture.

This protocol describes procedures for quantifying Aspergillus niger growth in both solid and liquid culture. Firstly, by comparing radial growth between mutant and progenitor isolates on solid agar supplemented with sublethal stressors, susceptibility coefficients can be calculated. Secondly, analysis of macromorphological growth types in liquid culture allows full quantification of how a gene of interest affects submerged growth.

Colony growth and biofilm formation of under simulated microgravity.

The biotechnology- and medicine-relevant fungus is a common colonizer of indoor habitats such as the International Space Station (ISS). Being able to colonize and biodegrade a wide range of surfaces, can ultimately impact human health and habitat safety. Surface contamination relies on two key-features of the fungal colony: the fungal spores, and the vegetative mycelium, also known as biofilm.

Structure-Activity Predictions From Computational Mining of Protein Databases to Assist Modular Design of Antimicrobial Peptides.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are naturally produced by pro- and eukaryotes and are promising alternatives to antibiotics to fight multidrug-resistant microorganisms. However, despite thousands of AMP entries in respective databases, predictions about their structure-activity relationships are still limited. Similarly, common or dissimilar properties of AMPs that have evolved in different taxonomic groups are nearly unknown.

From spores to fungal pellets: A new high-throughput image analysis highlights the structural development of Aspergillus niger.

Many filamentous fungi are exploited as cell factories in biotechnology. Cultivated under industrially relevant submerged conditions, filamentous fungi can adopt different macromorphologies ranging from dispersed mycelia over loose clumps to pellets. Central to the development of a pellet morphology is the agglomeration of spores after inoculation followed by spore germination and outgrowth into a pellet population, which is usually very heterogeneous.

Connecting materials sciences with fungal biology: a sea of possibilities.

The Special Issue "Connecting materials science with fungal biology" celebrates recent breakthroughs in the fabrication of fungal-based materials, all of which have been made possible by the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration of fungal biologists and biotechnologists with artists, designers, materials scientists, and architects. It features conceptual considerations and latest developments of these joint research efforts and the paradigm shift that is involved. The aim of this collection of twelve papers is to highlight the infinite possibilities for the development of innovative fungal-based materials which can be realized through integrating the knowledge and methods from different disciplines.

Comprehensively dissecting the hub regulation of PkaC on high-productivity and pellet macromorphology in citric acid producing Aspergillus niger.

Aspergillus niger, an important industrial workhorse for citric acid production, is characterized by polar hyphal growth with complex pelleted, clumped or dispersed macromorphologies in submerged culture. Although organic acid titres are dramatically impacted by these growth types, studies that assess productivity and macromorphological changes are limited. Herein, we functionally analysed the role of the protein kinase A (PKA)/cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signalling cascade during fermentation by disrupting and conditionally expressing the pkaC gene.

Establishment of the basidiomycete Fomes fomentarius for the production of composite materials.

Background: Filamentous fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota are considered as an attractive source for the biotechnological production of composite materials. The ability of many basidiomycetes to accept residual lignocellulosic plant biomass from agriculture and forestry such as straw, shives and sawdust as substrates and to bind and glue together these otherwise loose but reinforcing substrate particles into their mycelial network, makes them ideal candidates to produce biological composites to replace petroleum-based synthetic plastics and foams in the near future.

Results: Here, we describe for the first time the application potential of the tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius for lab-scale production of mycelium composites.

Effect of Cultivation Conditions on Its Adsorption Performance for Anionic and Cationic Dyes.

Lab-cultivated mycelia of (FF), grown on a solid lignocellulose medium (FF-SM) and a liquid glucose medium (FF-LM), and naturally grown fruiting bodies (FF-FB) were studied as biosorbents for the removal of organic dyes methylene blue and Congo red (CR). Both the chemical and microstructural differences were revealed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential analysis, and scanning electron microscopy, illuminating the superiority of FF-LM and FF-SM over FF-FB in dye adsorption. The adsorption process of CR on FF-LM and FF-SM is best described by the Redlich-Peterson model with β constants close to 1, that is, approaching the monolayer Langmuir model, which reach maximum adsorption capacities of 48.

A Library of Chassis Strains for Morphology Engineering Connects Strain Fitness and Filamentous Growth With Submerged Macromorphology.

Submerged fermentation using filamentous fungal cell factories is used to produce a diverse portfolio of useful molecules, including food, medicines, enzymes, and platform chemicals. Depending on strain background and abiotic culture conditions, different macromorphologies are formed during fermentation, ranging from dispersed hyphal fragments to approximately spherical pellets several millimetres in diameter. These macromorphologies are known to have a critical impact on product titres and rheological performance of the bioreactor.

In Vitro Systems for Toxicity Evaluation of Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds on Humans: Current Status and Trends.

Microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOC) are metabolic products and by-products of bacteria and fungi. They play an important role in the biosphere: They are responsible for inter- and intra-species communication and can positively or negatively affect growth in plants. But they can also cause discomfort and disease symptoms in humans.

The colors of life: an interdisciplinary artist-in-residence project to research fungal pigments as a gateway to empathy and understanding of microbial life.

Background: Biological pigmentation is one of the most intriguing traits of many fungi. It holds significance to scientists, as a sign of biochemical metabolism and organism-environment interaction, and to artists, as the source of natural colors that capture the beauty of the microbial world. Furthermore, the functional roles and aesthetic appeal of biological pigmentation may be a path to inspiring human empathy for microorganisms, which is key to understanding and preserving microbial biodiversity.