The Fungus Among Us: Important To Know

Fungi have played a critical role in shaping Earth's terrestrial biosphere over the last billion years. Fungi probably arrived on land 500 million years before plants. Recent research suggests that the emergence of plant life was only made possible by aeons of groundwork by ancient fungal forefathers. Without their expansive of root fungi trees would die. ¹ What is clear is that without fungi, we would not exist. Playing a vital role in the maintenance of healthy ecosystems across the planet, from the Antarctic deserts to the tropical rainforests, fungi underpin all life on Earth today. ² The Fungus Among Us: Important To Know

Fungi have the undeniable potential to be used for a whole range of purposes we're only beginning to grasp

When you think of fungi, you probably picture a huddle of chubby brown mushrooms, or the large red-capped toadstools you stumble across in the woods. In doing so, you're reducing fungi to their reproductive organs, tasty or striking as they may often be. The main body of a fungus is actually a large interwoven network called the mycelium, which consists of incredibly thin fungal tubes called hyphae. These hyphae are a bit like plant roots: they grow into soil, unseen by humans, on the hunt for nutrients. ³ Yet one thing is for sure: fungi have the undeniable potential to be used for a whole range of purposes we're only beginning to grasp. Mitchell Jones and his colleagues have reported on many ways fungi could change the world. ^4-7 Fungi derived leather substitutes are an emerging class of ethically and environmentally responsible fabrics that are increasingly meeting consumer aesthetic and functional expectations and winning favor as an alternative to bovine and synthetic leathers. Isolating only the mycelium can produce a more flexible and spongy foam suitable for products such as facial sponges, artificial skin, ink and dye carriers, shoe insoles, lightweight insulation lofts, cushioning, soft furnishings and textiles. Fungi help us to make many fermented foods and drinks such as beer, wine, bread and soy sauce. Many popular vegan protein products are just flavored masses of fungal mycelium. Fungal growth offers a cheap, simple and environmentally friendly way to bind agricultural byproducts (such as rice hulls, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse and molasses) into biodegradable and carbon-neutral foams.

---

Chitosan's considerable biomedical potential

Fungal foams are becoming increasingly popular as sustainable packaging materials; IKEA is one company that has indicated a commitment to using them. Fungal foams can also be used in the construction industry for insulation, flooring and paneling. Research has revealed them to be strong competitors against commercial materials in terms of having effective sound and heat insulation properties. Fungal filaments contain chitin: a remarkable polymer also found in crab shells and insect exoskeletons. Since chitin has a fibrous structure, similar to cellulose in wood, this means fungal fibre can be processed into sheets the same way paper is made. When stretched, fungal papers are stronger than many plastics and not much weaker than some steels of the same thickness. Fungi are the key to a new low carbon, fire resistant and termite deterring building material. This type of material, known as a mycelium composite, uses the Tramwetes versicolor fungus to combine agricultural and industrial waste to create lightweight but strong bricks. It's cheaper than synthetic plastics or engineered wood, and reduces the amount of waste that goes to landfill. The material could also provide a solution for combating infestations from termites, as the silica content would make buildings less appetizing to termites. Chitosan, a chitin which has been chemically modified through exposure to an acid or alkali, is electrically charged and can be used to attract heavy metal ions. If you couple it with a mycelium filament network that is intricate enough to prevent solids, bacteria and even viruses from passing through this provides and environmentally friendly membrane with impressive water purification properties. ⁸ While the technology hasn't yet been commercialized, it holds particular promise for reducing the environmental impact of synthetic filtration materials, and providing safer drinking water where it's not available. Perhaps even more interesting is chitosan's considerable biomedical potential. Fungal materials have been used to create dressings with active wound healing properties. Although not currently on the market, these have been proven to have antibacterial properties, stem bleeding and support cell proliferation and attachment. ⁴ Then there's the well-known role of fungi in antibiotics. Penicillin, made from the Penicillium fungi, was a scientific breakthrough that has saved millions of lives and become a staple of modern healthcare.

---

Support Canada Free Press

---

Environmental Damage-Eating Fungi and Chernobyl's radiation loving fungi

Fungi can compost some synthetic plastics, such as polyurethane. In this process, the plastic is buried in regulated soil and its byproducts are digested by specific fungi as it degrades. Fungi could play a role in sustainability by remedying existing environmental damage. For example, they can help clean up contaminated industrial sites through a popular technique known as mycoremediation, and can break down or absorb oils, pollutants, toxins, dyes and heavy metals. ⁴ One example: In 1991 in the eeire environment inside the abandoned Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, researchers remotely piloting robots spotted pitch black fungi growing on the walls of the decimated No. 4 nuclear reactor and even apparently breaking down radioactive graphite from the core itself. What's more, the fungi seemed to be growing towards sources of radiation, as if the microbes were attracted to them. ⁹ More than a decade later researchers acquired some of the fungi and found that they grew faster in the presence of radiation compared to other fungi. The three species tested all had large amount of the pigment melanin which is found, among many places, in the skin of humans. Melanin is known to absorb light and dissipate ultraviolet radiation, but in the fungi, it seemed to also be absorbing radiation and converting it into chemical energy for growth, perhaps in a similar fashion to how plants utilize the green pigment chlorophyll to attain energy for photosynthesis. Chernobyl's radiation loving fungi are almost certainly not the first examples of their kind. “Large quantities of highly melanized fungal spore have been found in early Cretaceous period deposits when many species of animals and plants died out. This period coincides with earth's crossing the 'magnetic zero' resulting in the loss of its 'shield' against cosmic radiation. ¹⁰

Fungi in Our Bodies

The lungs were for a long time considered to be sterile in health, while in diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) failure in immune mechanisms were thought to allow microorganisms to proliferate and persist. Now researchers have shown that several microorganisms reside in the lungs of healthy individuals as well. Study results showed that both healthy and diseased lungs had a different fungal composition than the mouth, suggesting that lungs have a unique fungal environment. ¹¹

---

References

1. Robert M.Hazen, Symphony in C, (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2019)
2. Katie Field, “Complex life may only exist because of millions of years of groundwork by ancient fungi,” theconversation.com, May 22, 2019
3. Edith Hammer and Kristin Aleklett, “The secret life of fungi: how they use ingenious strategies to forage underground,” the conversation.com, March 10, 2021
4. Mitchell P. Jones, “5 ways fungi could change the world, from cleaning water to breaking down plastic,” theconversation.com, March 31, 202.
5. Mitchell Jones et al., “Leather like material biofabrication using fungi,” Nature Sustainability, 4, 9-16(2021)
6. Mitchell Jones et al, “Engineered mycelium composite construction materials from fungal biorefineries: a critical review,” Materials & Design, Volume 187, February 2020, 108397
7. Tien Huynh and Mitchell P. Jones, “Scientists create new building material out of fungus, rice and glass,” theconversation.com, June 19, 2018
8. “German scientists use fungi to clean, soil, water,” dw.com, April 19, 2012
9. Ross Pomeroy, “Fungi that eat radiation are growing on the walls of Chernobyl's ruined nuclear reactor,” realclearscience.com, February 4, 2020
10. Ekaterina Dadachova and Arturo Casadevall, “Ionizing radiation: how fungi cope , adapt, and exploit with the help of melanin,” Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 2008, December: 11(6), 525-531
11. Einar Marius Hjellstad Martinsen, “Fungi are present in your lungs,” eurekalert.org, April 7, 2021

>