Mycelium is the vegetative part of fungi that is composed of tubular filaments or threads called hypha, whereas mushrooms are the fruiting body of fungi. The filaments of mycelium grow by expanding from the tips and branching. Hypha are composed of chitin, beta-glucans, and proteins. Mycelium technology makes use of inactivated or non-living mycelium as material for packaging, textiles, and construction or in biomedical applications. Ideas for the development of living mycelium as living, self-healing, and/or self-constructing building materials are also pursued as potential future applications of mycelium technology.
The chemical and physical properties of mycelia can be adjusted by changing growth conditions and the substrate that feeds the cells. Mycelium-based bio-composites are produced when mycelium is grown on organic matter generated from agricultural and industrial wastes. The wastes are integrated from pieces into continuous composites without energy input or waste output. Knowledge of mycelium technology for the construction of natural, sustainable, and biodegradable materials, as well as biomedical applications, comes from many areas of mycelium research.
Fungal architecture is the harnessing of mycelium, living or dead, as a base material for building. A cross-disciplinary research project called Fungal Architectures, which involves the Royal Danish Academy and collaborators, “seeks to develop a fully integrated structural and computational living substrate using fungal mycelium for the purpose of growing architecture.” A consortium of architects, computer scientists, biophysicists, mycologists, and industry experts from mycelium-based technology are working toward their goal of developing a structural substrate in which fungal mycelium is functionalized with nanoparticles and polymers that will be able to self-grow, build and repair themselves, sense, and adapt to the environment.
The properties of mycelium-based materials are impacted by the type or strain of fungus, the substrate on which it grows, and growth conditions, such as pH, carbon dioxide levels, temperature, humidity, and exposure to light. In addition, cold or heat pressing can be applied to change the orientation of fibers, reduce thickness, and increase contact between fibers at overlapping points.
The structure of mycelium is a biopolymer network with mechanics determined by individual filament behavior and the arrangement of filaments in the network. Research on the mechanical properties of mycelium is relevant to the potential use of mycelium in packaging, insulation, or building material.
Mycelium networks are studied to understand mechanisms of computation and decision-making in terms of Boolean gates and circuits. In the future, this knowledge may be applied to designs of electrical analog computing circuits and computing schemes in living fungal architectures.
Mycoremediation is the use of fungi to degrade or sequester pollutants from the environment. Mycofiltration is a type of mycoremediation that treats water by passing it through a network of fungal mycelium.
Fungal species are under investigation for potential applications in biogenic crack repair in concrete.
The fibrous structures left behind from inactivated mycelia can serve as scaffolds for growing mammalian tissue culture cells. The mycelia tissue culture scaffolds have properties that mimic the extracellular matrix of human body tissues. Mycelia tissue culture scaffolds can also be used for the production of cultivated meat/cultured meat.
