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Unleashing the Biological Potential of Fomes fomentarius via Dry and Wet Milling.

ABSTRACT: Fomes fomentarius, usually referred to as tinder conk, is a common wood-based fungus rich in many interesting phytochemicals and with an unique porous structure. Dry or wet ball milling of this sponge on a planetary mill results in small particles with sizes in the range of 10 µm or below. Suspended in water and without preservatives or other stabilizers, the resulting micro-suspensions are sterile for around six days, probably due to the increased temperatures of around 80 °C especially during the wet milling process. The suspensions also exhibit excellent antioxidant activities as determined in the DPPH, ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assays. In the DPPH assay, IC₅₀ values of 0.02-0.04% w/v and 0.04% w/v were observed for dry and wet milled samples, respectively. In the FRAP assay, IC₅₀ values of <0.02% w/v and 0.04% w/v were observed for dry and wet milled samples, respectively. In contrast, the ABTS assay provided IC₅₀ values of 0.04% w/v and 0.005% w/v, respectively. Notably, this activity is mostly-albeit not exclusively-associated with the highly porous particles and their large surfaces, although some active ingredients also diffuse into the surrounding aqueous medium. Such suspensions of natural particles carrying otherwise insoluble antioxidants on their surfaces provide an interesting avenue to unleash the antioxidant potential of materials such as sponges and barks. As dry milling also enables longer storage and transport, applications in the fields of medicine, nutrition, agriculture, materials and cosmetics are feasible.

SUBMITTER: Darkal AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7920468 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundFilamentous fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota are considered as an attractive source for the biotechnological production of composite materials. The ability of many basidiomycetes to accept residual lignocellulosic plant biomass from agriculture and forestry such as straw, shives and sawdust as substrates and to bind and glue together these otherwise loose but reinforcing substrate particles into their mycelial network, makes them ideal candidates to produce biological composites to replace petroleum-based synthetic plastics and foams in the near future.ResultsHere, we describe for the first time the application potential of the tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius for lab-scale production of mycelium composites. We used fine, medium and coarse particle fractions of hemp shives and rapeseed straw to produce a set of diverse composite materials and show that the mechanical materials properties are dependent on the nature and particle size of the substrates. Compression tests and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize composite material properties and to model their compression behaviour by numerical simulations. Their properties were compared amongst each other and with the benchmark expanded polystyrene (EPS), a petroleum-based foam used for thermal isolation in the construction industry. Our analyses uncovered that EPS shows an elastic modulus of 2.37 ± 0.17 MPa which is 4-times higher compared to the F. fomentarius composite materials whereas the compressive strength of 0.09 ± 0.003 MPa is in the range of the fungal composite material. However, when comparing the ability to take up compressive forces at higher strain values, the fungal composites performed better than EPS. Hemp-shive based composites were able to resist a compressive force of 0.2 MPa at 50% compression, rapeseed composites 0.3 MPa but EPS only 0.15 MPa.ConclusionThe data obtained in this study suggest that F. fomentarius constitutes a promising cell factory for the future production of fungal composite materials with similar mechanical behaviour as synthetic foams such as EPS. Future work will focus on designing materials characteristics through optimizing substrate properties, cultivation conditions and by modulating growth and cell wall composition of F. fomentarius, i.e. factors that contribute on the meso- and microscale level to the composite behaviour.

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Unleashing the Biological Potential of Fomes fomentarius via Dry and Wet Milling.

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