MYCOLOGY
(MIC 206)
INDUSTRIAL
MYCOLOGY
FOOD AND
BEVERAGES
INDUSTRIES
Food and Beverages Industry
Brewer’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 Industry
Soya 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 can be cut into
cubes and fried or cooked with other ingredients.
Baking Industry
Baker’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 - Penicillin
discovered 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.
 Lovastatin: Aspergillus terreus strains.
 Mevastatin: 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
PRODUCTION
An 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
IMPROVEMENT
Crop Improvement
The 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 in 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