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Building a sustainable future with fungi

From food security to greener homes, find out how fungi are helping tackle some of our biggest sustainability challenges.

Shot from the ground up of a collection of fungi growing on a tree in a forest.
Fungi could provide the answers to some of our bigest sustainability challenges.

Biotechnology allows us to use tools and processes we find in nature to tackle real-world problems. Whether we’re fighting disease, generating energy, or protecting our food sources, we can take inspiration from the inner workings of cells and molecules. Sustainable biotechnology uses these processes to help us build a greener world.

Dr Daniel Henk and his team in the Department of Life Sciences are exploring all thing fungi to find some answers.

Finding an alternative to palm oil

Palm oil is a versatile vegetable oil found in almost half of all supermarket products.

Southeast Asia is home to some of the world’s largest and most pristine rainforests, and most of the world’s commercial palm plantations. Palm oil production is one of the world’s biggest drivers of deforestation, destroying the homes of several endangered species.

Working with Professor Chris Chuck in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the team are investigating how yeast can convert agricultural waste into a palm oil alternative.

Much like in the traditional brewing process, where yeast turns the sugar in grain into alcohol and carbon dioxide, many yeasts generate oil as a byproduct of fermentation. Daniel and his team set out to find a yeast strain that could break down low-value agricultural waste, such as wheat straw, and turn it into a high-value oil.

Starting with natural yeasts, they grew them on different food sources to see which would break down waste most efficiently, with the highest oil yield. By subjecting these yeasts to natural selection, they can develop new and better strains. The team can also alter the yeasts’ genetics and make changes to their chemical and physical properties. This could, for example, increase the viscosity of the oil that yeast produces.

Through an iterative process of natural selection and gene editing, the team hope to grow a yeast that produces an oil as close to palm oil as possible. Once this yeast has been identified, it’s back to Chris and his team of engineers to explore scaling up production and applying it in the real world.

While it’s unlikely their yeast oil would ever replace palm oil, the team hope solutions like theirs can help ease the economic and environmental consequences of palm oil production.

Tracking down pathogen-busting fungi

Another sustainability-focussed project the team are working on explores using fungi to protect grass crops. The global issue of hunger and food insecurity is second in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This brings the need to ensure sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices. With threats like evolving pathogens and a changing climate, it’s more important than ever to help protect grass crops and cereals.

Daniel and his team have joined forces with Kew and the Millenium Seed Bank on a bioprospecting mission. They’re hunting for endophytes, fungi that live inside healthy grass seeds without causing disease. The team are searching for fungi with protective properties and want to see if they can use them in fields or orchards to protect crops from disease.

In the early stages of research, the team are looking for endophytes and investigating their roles within the ecosystem. Once they understand how these fungi function, they can carry out experiments, testing them against other fungi and bacteria.

Taking this a step further, they also hope to identify new chemicals in pathogen-fighting fungi. If a fungus secretes antimicrobial chemicals, for example, this could have useful plant-protecting applications in years to come.

Building greener homes with natural materials

Biotechnology is also helping find sustainable solutions to problems much closer to home. Many building materials in our homes are filled with pollutants and are hard to dispose of at the end of their life. Not only do fungi provide a natural way of disposing of these materials, but they also make fully biodegradable bioproducts in themselves.

Fungi can feed off many different materials, converting harmful substances back into natural elements. Rather than single-celled fungi like yeasts, these fungi are mushroom fungi, like those you see growing in woodlands. The visible mushroom, the fruiting body, is only a tiny part of the fungus. The rest, hidden away in the substrate, is a network of fungal growth. This is called mycelium and is made of individual strands called hyphae, woven together in a matrix.

Daniel and his team are working with Andrew Shea and the Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering to grow fungi on building waste and create new, composite materials. As the fungus grows, it inundates the waste material with its matrix of hyphae, converting the original material into its own biomass.

These bio-composites have unique physical properties which could prove useful around our homes. For example, the fungi prevent the transfer of heat, and many are even resistant to fire. When dried, the materials are lightweight, yet durable, thanks to the network of hyphae running through them. These are all properties which could be useful in developing biodegradable insulation in our homes.

While using fungi in building materials isn’t a new idea, we still don’t know which work best, and what other properties they can take on. For example, we could change the weave or size of hyphae and alter the properties of the resulting composite material. With a range of different properties, these materials could go on to have a host of uses and applications in construction.

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