Lightbulb moment for fungi scientists
The glowing fungus in the lab. Credit: Empa.
Amid the climate emergency and with energy prices remaining high, scientists are exploring new ways of producing cost-effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly ways to produce light.
By copying nature, bioluminescent fungi could provide us with an alternative light source, thus reducing our demand on fossil fuels.
Researchers from SRUC and the Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) St Gallen, Switzerland have successfully inserted the decay fungus Desarmillaria tabescens – a white rot fungus – into balsa wood to make it glow, with the aim of producing functionality.
While bioluminescence – colloquially known as 'fox fire' – is a familiar sight in decaying wood in nature, especially in the mycelial strands that resemble bootlaces, it is the first time the process has been 'tamed' in a laboratory.
Although it is in its very early stages, the scientists involved believe it could one day be used as an alternative light source, such as a battery-free glow to light homes and communities, medical imaging and optical sensing to dyes and paints and a bioluminescent-based bioassay for detecting wood preservatives.
Dr Hugh Morris from SRUC, one of the team of scientists working on the project led by Empa’s Professor Dr Francis Schwarze, said: “With global concerns about the climate emergency and the urgency to reach net zero emissions, new technologies are critical in our race to protect the planet from overheating.”
The work develops a methodology to produce a hybrid living material by manipulating wood colonisation through merging the living fungus Desarmillaria tabescens with nonliving balsa (Ochroma pyramidale) wood to achieve and control the autonomous emission of bioluminescence.
The hybrid material with the highest bioluminescence is produced by soaking the wood blocks and co-cultivating them with the fungus for three months followed by exposing them to air in the dark.
Benjamin Franklin, the scientist and American Founding Father, used glowing wood in ship’s compasses while, in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the eponymous hero is able to find his way out of a mine shaft by following the glow given off by the decaying timber.
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