Considerations for Domestication of Novel Strains of Filamentous Fungi

Overview

Journal ACS Synth Biol

Publisher American Chemical Society

Date 2025 Jan 30

PMID 39883596

Authors

Randi M Pullen

Stephen R Decker

Venkataramanan Subramanian

Meaghan J Adler

Alexander V Tobias

Matthew Perisin

Christian J Sund

Matthew D Servinsky

Mark T Kozlowski

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Fungi, especially filamentous fungi, are a relatively understudied, biotechnologically useful resource with incredible potential for commercial applications. These multicellular eukaryotic organisms have long been exploited for their natural production of useful commodity chemicals and proteins such as enzymes used in starch processing, detergents, food and feed production, pulping and paper making and biofuels production. The ability of filamentous fungi to use a wide range of feedstocks is another key advantage. As chassis organisms, filamentous fungi can express cellular machinery, and metabolic and signal transduction pathways from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic origins. Their genomes abound with novel genetic elements and metabolic processes that can be harnessed for biotechnology applications. Synthetic biology tools are becoming inexpensive, modular, and expansive while systems biology is beginning to provide the level of understanding required to design increasingly complex synthetic systems. This review covers the challenges of working in filamentous fungi and offers a perspective on the approaches needed to exploit fungi as microbial cell factories.

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