System Synthetics: background.

Fungi are widely used as cell factories for industrial production of metabolites (e.g. antibiotics and organic acids) and enzymes (e.g. glucoamylase and phytase). There are still ample possibilities to improve production processes or to develop new production systems with the use of fungi. Fungi are generally grown in a pure culture to produce molecules of industrial or pharmaceutical interest. However, in nature fungi grow together with other microbes. These microbes compete with each other in many cases but also create mutual beneficial symbiotic relationships. In fact, many microbes can only survive in the presence of another microbe. The underlying mechanisms are still to be elucidated in many cases.

Recent studies have highlighted the ability of the fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium to degrade harmful synthetic compounds, such as styrene, formaldehyde and phenolic resins, by literally feeding on them. This finding is extremely attractive to me. It faces one of the biggest challenges of our times, which is the possibility of being able to neutralize and decompose toxic harmful compounds that resulted from our industrial development. These compounds have accumulated in nature and endanger entire ecosystems. The fact that Phanerochaete chrysosporium is now starting to be implemented in industrial processes of bio-remediation and bio-filtration illustrates the potential of this fungus.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as bakers yeast, has been used by man for thousands of years in the production of bread, wine and beer. Later on, it became a model system for research. For instance, metabolic pathways were discovered in this fungus, and it became clear that these pathways were also found in plants, animals and humans. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is also one of the main industrial cell factories. It is used for the production of metabolites and industrial and pharmaceutical proteins. The capacity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce alcohol is nowadays being exploited for the production of bioethanol as an energy source. Improvement of the industrial processes of bio-ethanol production should increase competitiveness with traditional energy sources.