A research team from the Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University in Japan has successfully extracted mycelium fibers from the fruiting body, the sexual, spore-producing structure of mushrooms, without destroying the microscopic mycelium structure. These fibers are expected to have the potential to be converted into a sustainable raw material for leather and packaging.
The Japanese research team extracted mycelial fibers from the processed Flammulina enoki fungus and the inedible Ganoderma lucidum mushroom.
According to the American news website ScienceDaily, Shinshu University published the experimental results in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering on October 21, 2023, under the title "Preparation of Mycelium Pulp from Mushroom Fruiting Bodies." The research detailed how to maintain the complete structure of mushrooms while easily obtaining mycelium fibers.
EurekAlert!, an online science news outlet, explains that the fruiting body is the multicellular spore structure of a mushroom. The size, shape, and color of the fruiting body vary among different fungal species. The large, umbrella-shaped fungal structures commonly seen in soil, decaying wood, and other substrates are the fruiting bodies of mushrooms. The mycelial fibers extracted from mushroom fruiting bodies by Shinshu University are called mycelial pulp. This mycelial aggregate is widely considered a promising environmentally friendly material.
Shinshu University further pointed out that in addition to being used as leather and packaging materials, mycelium pulp is also very suitable for making sound-insulating building materials and textiles. Once the mycelium pulp extraction technology matures, it will be widely loved by the processing and manufacturing industry and the general public in the future.
What was Shinshu University's original intention in developing this technology?
According to ScienceDaily, millions of tons of waste are generated globally each year due to human activities, 38% of which ends up in landfills. However, a considerable proportion of these discarded items are plastics or other petroleum-based end products. These materials do not decompose or biodegrade over time. Therefore, it is very important to find environmentally friendly alternatives to plastics that can be decomposed in nature. This is also the direction that many scientists and industries are working towards.
The news website emphasized that the mycelial pulp of mushroom fruiting bodies is rich in protein, chitin and natural polysaccharides, which makes the processed raw materials made from mycelial pulp easily biodegradable in the natural environment, with low production costs and little harm to the environment.
Satomi Tagawa, Assistant Professor at Shinshu University's College of Engineering, said: "The fleshy, spore-producing bodies of large mushrooms have traditionally been a popular food source. However, in recent years, these mushrooms have also been transformed into everyday household products. Compared to products made from traditional petrochemical raw materials, these materials are safer, more durable, and more environmentally friendly."
Professor Satomi Tagawa also explained that the mycelial pulp extracted in the study is a multi-cluster branched mycelium, which has good plasticity and can be used to produce three-dimensional porous sponge structures, two-dimensional film materials, and one-dimensional linear modules. This also means that mycelial fibers extracted from fruiting bodies can be widely used in many daily necessities.
How does the research team extract mycelium fibers from fruiting bodies?
According to team members Professor Satomi Tagawa, Hiroya Nakauchi, a recipient of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Young Scientist Research Scholarship, and Professor Yoshihiko Amano of the Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University, the research team first chemically treated the enoki mushroom (Flammulina filiformis) and the inedible Reishi mushroom using sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide.
The research team then decolorized the fruiting bodies of the chemically treated mushrooms using sunlight in a pollution-free manner. The decolorized fruiting bodies achieved a light reflectivity of over 80%. Ultrasonic extraction technology was then used to defibrinate the mycelium, resulting in a white, micron-sized mycelial pulp.
A research team at Shinshu University has extracted mycelial fibers from the sexual spore-producing structure of mushrooms, called "fruiting bodies," which can be converted into sustainable raw materials such as leather.
The study emphasizes that while the mycelial pulp exhibits a different pattern than the fruiting body, its structure and chemical composition remain largely unchanged, retaining a significant amount of polysaccharides and proteins. Ganoderma fungi exhibit fine, branched mycelial pulp, while Flammulina enoki exhibits a thicker, linear mycelial pulp, though both retain their mycelial structure intact. The research team reportedly employed Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to accurately identify the mycelial structure.
EurekAlert! explains that previous techniques for extracting mycelial fibers from mushroom fruiting bodies often resulted in chemical and mechanical processing methods that destroyed the complex mycelial structure, affecting the quality of the final product and indirectly limiting the development of mycelial fibers in the nanoscale field. This research by the Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University is expected to significantly advance mycelial fiber extraction technology.
The research team also mentioned that due to the inherent pigments in mushrooms and foreign substances introduced during human processing, the final color of the mycelium raw material ranges from brown to orange. This study used chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide to treat the mycelium fibers, and then used sunlight to bleach them to obtain pure white mycelium pulp. This is also an innovative method that not only maintains the original structure of the mycelium, but also avoids unnecessary staining of the raw material.
What other benefits can mycelium extraction technology bring?
Professor Tagawa's research team believes that the mycelium extraction technology from fruiting bodies is consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of "Sustainable Consumption and Production" and "Climate Action." They believe that this research can help reduce excessive global waste and also has the potential to promote the development of the international bioeconomy.
The Shinshu University official website quoted Professor Tagawa as saying that the seemingly simple mycelium pulp extraction technology can also promote the development of the edible mushroom cultivation industry, and related technologies are bound to continue to improve in the future, thereby laying the foundation for mycelium pulp to be used as a raw material for daily necessities.
“The technology we’ve developed can bring more sustainable development to the edible mushroom industry. This is especially true since organic waste is inevitably generated during the cultivation, harvesting, and packaging of these mushrooms. The introduction of this technology will facilitate the recycling of these waste materials,” Professor Tagawa said, emphasizing the positive impact that his and his research team’s research has had on society and academia.
She also believes that mushrooms, which are generally regarded as renewable resources by the outside world, are in line with the development trend of environmentally friendly materials. Whether they are used as food, raw materials for goods, or as recycled waste materials, they have the potential to further expand the mushroom market and the growth of related industries, ultimately achieving the vision of sustainable development that is friendly to the environment, revitalizes local communities, and increases employment opportunities.
This article is reprinted with permission from Critical Review Network. The original title is "Japanese team successfully extracts mycelial fiber from mushrooms, promising sustainable raw materials for leather, packaging, and more." It is not subject to the CC license.
References：
*American Chemical Society （2023/10/21），Preparation of Mycelium Pulp from Mushroom Fruiting Bodies, DOI:10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c04795
*Shinshu University (2024/01/08), Novel Strategy for Extracting White Mycelial Pulp from Fruiting Mushroom Bodies
*EurekAlert!（2024/01/08），A novel strategy for extracting white mycelial pulp from fruiting mushroom bodies
*ScienceDaily（2024/01/08），Researchers successfully extract mycelial fibers from fruiting bodies of mushrooms without destroying their microsized mycelial structures
Source: Environmental Information Centre
