INDUSTRIAL MYCOLOGY

MYCOLOGY (MIC 206)

FOOD AND

BEVERAGES

INDUSTRIES

Food and Beverages IndustryBrewer’s yeast S. cerevisiae ferments sugars in cereal grains to produce: alcohol beers and lagers.

Citric acid used in soft drinks, candies, artificial lemon juice, baked

goods etc. produced industrially by fungus fermentation using

Aspergillus niger. Minor fraction is produced by Yarrowia lipolytica.

Food and Beverages IndustrySoya sauce used as condiments, colorouring and flavouring agents. Aerobic fermentation involving Aspergillus oryzae or A.

sojae.

Tempe Involves fermentation of cooked whole or dehulled soya

beans by Rhizopus species (R.oigosporus). The resulting cake-like product product can be cut into cubes

and fried or cooked with other ingredients.

Baking IndustryBaker’s yeast

S.cerevisiae) ferment sugars in the flour, releasing CO2.

→ makes bubbles in the dough and causes the dough to “rise” (increase in volume).

used in the leavening of bread and other baked products.

The alcohol produced evaporates during baking.

Cheese Ripening The blue mould, Penicillium, is used in the ripening

process to prepare speciality cheeses such as: blue cheeses e.g. Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton etc. soft cheeses such as Camembert and Brie.

Mycoprotein - Quorn

1960s, mycoprotein was developed by Rank Hovis and McDougall. 1986, manufactured and marketed under the name of Quorn by Marlow Foods Ltd (named after the area of its discovery).extracted from a Fusarium venenatum.Used as a health food and an alternative to meat.found to be very nutritious, not least because it contains high quality protein and fibre, but is also low in fat. leading brand of mycoprotein food product in the UK and Ireland.

MEDICINE

Antibiotics - Penicillindiscovered in 1929 by Sir Alexander Fleming, who observed inhibition of staphylococci on an agar plate contaminated by a Penicillium mold. He noticed that a patch of the mold Penicillium notatum had grown on a plate containing the bacterium Staphylococcus and that around the mold there was a zone where no Staphylococcus could grow. After more research, he was able to show that culture broth of the mold prevented growth of the Staphylococcus even when diluted up to 800 times. He named the active substance penicillin but was unable to isolate it.

Antibiotics - Penicillin

Other examples of antibiotics derived from fungi – Cephalosporin (Cephalosporium sp). Griseofulvin (Penicillium griseofulvum and

Penicillium patulum).

Statins

Statins (or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels . Are products of metabolic reactions in fungi. LovastatinLovastatin: Aspergillus terreus strains. MevastatinMevastatin: Penicillium citrinum.

Functions: inhibit an enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver. involved in the synthesis of cholesterol levels in cardiovascular (CVD) patients.

Immuno-suppressives

Immune suppressants are essential for organ transplant patients.The T cells of the human immune system recognise the new organ as “foreign” and began to destroy the organ.Cyclosporin A, produced by Tolypocladium inflatum (Filamentous fungus). This drugs prevents organ rejection by inhibiting

T-cell activation.

Vitamins

All fungi are a good source of vitamins.Ex: Brewer’s Yeast (synthesized B group vitamins).In industry, Fungi Nematospora gossypii and Eremothecium ashbyi – used to produced B- vitamins.

ENERGY PRODUCTI

ONAn endophytic fungi, that lives within a plant,

churns out mycodiesel.

Mycodiesel

volatile organic products made by fungi that have fuel potential. The latest discovery is that of an endophytic Hypoxylon/Nodulosporium species, or one that lives within a plant, that makes the compound cineole along with a number of other cyclohexanes (colorless, flammable liquids found in petroleum crude oil and volcanic gases) and compounds with enormous fuel potential.Cineole is of special interest since it has been shown that it can be added to gasoline at a ratio of 8 parts cineole to 1 part of gasoline, ending up with a final octane rating of 95.

CROP IMPROVEMEN

T

Crop ImprovementThe most important fungi in crop production is Mycorrhizal. Form symbiotic relationship with the legumious plant.

Image of mycorr greenhouse

Preparing the mycelium for seed inoculation at the University of Namibia

Ideal houses for mycelium and mushroom growth: Namibia

Mycelium development & fruiting bodies

WASTE TREATMENT

Fungi such as Aspergillus niger and Chaetomium cupreum have also been used to reduce the content of highly toxic tannins in tannery effluents.Penicillium sp. can also be used to coagulate bread yeast suspensions, and to degrade heavily coloured olive oil effluents to low molecular weight polyphenols.Aspergillus oryzae remove the highly coloured product melanoidin from liquid molasses wastes

Fungi in Waste Treatment