How fungi help us become more sustainable

The fungus can already provide a substitute for skin and meat. And in the future they can help turn hard-to-destroy waste into something useful again and maybe we’ll live in homes that make things. In the ‘material business’, things are happening very quickly with fungi, according to Ram. ‘Many companies are working to develop alternatives to Styrofoam, packaging materials or building materials, for example.’

How does it work? Molds can form hyphae. If you allow fungi to grow on the surface of, for example, leaves, a network of fungal fibers (mycelium) can connect the leaves to each other. This creates a pattern. By pressing the leaves into the mold, you can make the mold into any desired shape.

Mold makes cheese protein

Ram does not provide the building materials himself, but together with his colleagues he investigates how he can make fungi produce animal proteins in a sustainable way. He looks specifically at casein, a common protein in cheese. The main goal is to make cheese using casein produced by fungi.

The challenge is getting the mold to make the cheese protein, because it doesn’t naturally do that.

The study faces two main challenges. The first is that the researchers have to make sure that the fungus starts making casein, because it doesn’t normally. By inserting a piece of DNA into the fungus, it can produce that protein. The second challenge is to get the fungus to produce casein efficiently, otherwise it is not desirable for mass production. Therefore it is important that the proteins end up outside the cells in the medium in which the fungus grows. This makes the casein easier to collect. With the help of modern molecular genetic technologies, we are working hard in the laboratory to… Aspergillus niger improving mold as a protein factory.

Break the plastic

In the laboratory in Leiden, Ram and his team are also working on the breakdown of lignin using fungi. Lignin is a substance that gives trees and plants strength and flexibility. It is also a substance that is very difficult to break. The only thing that can be done with it now is to burn it. Researchers want fungi to produce enzymes that can break down lignin. If this is successful, the necessary building blocks from lignin can be made into bioplastics, for example.

Research is also interesting for breaking down plastic. Ram: ‘Most plastics are somewhat similar in structure to lignin. So there are examples where an enzyme that breaks down lignin can also break down plastic.’

Achieving sustainable goals with fungi

Gemini sees an important role for fungi in the future. Fungus can help address at least ten of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (goals for a more sustainable world, ed.). I recently read that someone claimed that they can help with all seventeen goals. Either way, fungi and fungal biotechnology can contribute to solving many of the sustainability issues we are currently grappling with.’

Op February 9 Arthur Ram gives his first lecture ‘Why long-winded fungi are boring.’

Text: Dagmar Aarts
Photo: Arthur Ram