The Mushroom Miracle

Fungi are neither plants nor animals; in fact, they comprise their own kingdom. They do not require sunlight; instead, they permeate the ground, wood and other organic matter in their search for nutrients originating from living as well as dead organisms.
Roughly 120,000 species of fungi are currently scientifically cataloged, whereas a vast majority are still unknown: researchers estimate a possible five billion species. Some species baffle the observer with superlatives – for example, the honey mushroom in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon is the largest living organism on Earth.
The network of this fungus inhabits approximately nine square kilometers – the equivalent of 1,200 soccer fields. Biologists estimate this giant mushroom to be up to 8,500 years old and weigh 400,000 kilograms. The largest fruiting body of any mushroom visible above ground was found 12 years ago in China. The Phellinus fungus was almost eleven meters long and weighed 400 kilograms.
Fungi are extremely well networked. There are up to six tons of fungal hyphae in one hectare of forest soil which can add up to an incredible 100 billion kilometers. In comparison, the Moon orbits Earth at a distance of only 380,000 kilometers. A single tree can have a network of up to 100 species of fungus. The ability of these recycling specialists to metabolize waste has caught the attention of science as well as industry. Some experts see a great potential for sustainable innovation. Here, we present four of the many useful characteristics of fungi:

Mysterious Mycorrhiza

The commonly recognized part of a fungus is the fruiting body above ground. The actual fungus – the mycelium – comprises the wide network of root-like filaments in the ground. The mycelium often enters a symbiotic relationship with trees and other plants: mycorrhizae improve the supply of the plant with water and minerals; phosphorous especially renders the fungal network better accessibilty to the plant. In exchange, the fungus receives sugar-containing compounds generated during photosynthesis. Mycorrhizae are also capable of serving the exchange of information of, for example, the need for water or nutrients. At this time, little is known about how the “Wood Wide Web” really works.

Houses Built from Waste

Fungi are of special interest to the building material industry as their hyphae can penetrate plant waste and thus interconnect it to form a solid structure. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute took waste materials such as sawdust, straw and draff and developed a paste which can be processed using a 3D printer. This is how it works: the addition of fungi solidifies the material; the fungi are subsequently killed by applying heat, and, voilà, you have a stable and sustainable building component. Researchers from Karlsruhe in Germany produced bricks made from waste wood and fungal mycelia that were not only considerably lighter than conventional materials but also less breakable and more durable. In addition, carbon dioxide is bound during the manufacturing process. The American start-up Ecovative has succeeded in building a complete small house which consists of mostly fungal filaments and waste materials. The Mushroom Tiny House is waterproof, fireproof, free from toxic chemicals and biodegradable.

Effective Killer of Harmful Substances

There is not another organism that matches fungi in terms of speed and efficiency when it comes to degrading plant materials. Special enzymes allow them to degrade lignocellulose – the substance that provides lignified plants with strength and stability, and which microorganisms find difficult to digest. Fungal enzymes are also highly efficient in dismantling other difficult to degrade substances. Among other things, they are capable of metabolizing harmful substances such as dioxin, oils, fats, certain pesticides, the explosive TNT, as well as residues of pharmaceuticals and plastics. Importantly, they do it in such a way that only carbon dioxide and water will remain – or at least substances which are significantly less toxic. As such, fungi can play an important role in cleaning up contaminated soil and bodies of water. Even today, fungi are used as effective killers of harmful substances in some water treatment plants and on fallow contaminated industrial lands.

Healing Substance

Penicillin, the antibiotic developed by British scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, is the best-known pharmaceutical of fungal origin. Since that time, researchers studying antibiotics have discovered a series of other substances with antibiotic properties in fungi. The antibiotics produced worldwide from the two mold species Penicillium chrysogenum and Acremonium chrysogenum are worth approximately 20 billion euros. New studies show that certain species also contain antiviral substances. The active substance cordycepin, isolated from the caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis) could potentially prove useful as a cancer therapeutic. Laboratory experiments showed that cordycepin was capable of effectively destroying leukemia, breast cancer and prostate cancer cells. However, this substance is not yet approved as a medication.

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