Edible mycelium bioengineered for enhanced nutritional value and sensory appeal using a modular synthetic biology toolkit

Abstract

Filamentous fungi are critical in the transition to a more sustainable food system. While genetic modification of these organisms has promise for enhancing the nutritional value, sensory appeal, and scalability of fungal foods, genetic tools and demonstrated use cases for bioengineered food production by edible strains are lacking. Here, we develop a modular synthetic biology toolkit for Aspergillus oryzae, an edible fungus used in fermented foods, protein production, and meat alternatives. Our toolkit includes a CRISPR-Cas9 method for gene integration, neutral loci, and tunable promoters. We use these tools to elevate intracellular levels of the nutraceutical ergothioneine and the flavor-and color molecule heme in the edible biomass. The strain overproducing heme is red in color and is readily formulated into imitation meat patties with minimal processing. These findings highlight the promise of synthetic biology to enhance fungal foods and provide useful genetic tools for applications in food production and beyond.

HarbouringStarships: The accumulation of large Horizontal Gene Transfers in Domesticated and Pathogenic Fungi

“…Our findings have thus clear implications for the future of agriculture, human health and the food industry as we shed light on a widely recurrent mechanism of gene transfer between filamentous fungi. This also indicates a need for caution regarding the use of bioengineered fungal strains in our agriculture or food systems, as already proposed in the fermented food species Aspergillus oryzae which was successfully genetically modified using the CRISPR-Cas9 system (Maini Rekdal et al, 2024). We cannot predict how these genes will be spread and whether they can be future threats.…”

Next generation AMA1-based plasmids for enhanced heterologous expression in filamentous fungi

“…Filamentous fungi play key roles in biotechnology, serving as versatile cell factories for producing industrial enzymes, organic acids, and bioactive small molecules. Fungal mycelium also has applications in biomaterials, bioremediation, biomass processing and fungal foods (Maini Rekdal et al, 2024; Meyer et al, 2020). Notably, Aspergillus stands as the most popular genus in the academic literature and patent landscape for fungal biotechnology (Füting et al, 2021).…”