Current challenges of research on filamentous fungi in relation to human welfare and a sustainable bio-economy: a white paper

Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, Aug 2016

The EUROFUNG network is a virtual centre of multidisciplinary expertise in the field of fungal biotechnology. The first academic-industry Think Tank was hosted by EUROFUNG to summarise the state of the art and future challenges in fungal biology and biotechnology in the coming decade. Currently, fungal cell factories are important for bulk manufacturing of organic acids, proteins, enzymes, secondary metabolites and active pharmaceutical ingredients in white and red biotechnology. In contrast, fungal pathogens of humans kill more people than malaria or tuberculosis. Fungi are significantly impacting on global food security, damaging global crop production, causing disease in domesticated animals, and spoiling an estimated 10 % of harvested crops. A number of challenges now need to be addressed to improve our strategies to control fungal pathogenicity and to optimise the use of fungi as sources for novel compounds and as cell factories for large scale manufacture of bio-based products. This white paper reports on the discussions of the Think Tank meeting and the suggestions made for moving fungal bio(techno)logy forward.

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Current challenges of research on filamentous fungi in relation to human welfare and a sustainable bio-economy: a white paper

Meyer et al. Fungal Biol Biotechnol Current challenges of research on filamentous fungi in relation to human welfare and a sustainable bio-economy: a white paper Vera Meyer vera.meyer@tu‑berlin.de 0 4 Mikael R. Andersen 5 Axel A. Brakhage 6 7 Gerhard H. Braus 8 Mark X. Caddick 9 Timothy C. Cairns 0 4 Ronald P. de Vries 10 Thomas Haarmann 11 Kim Hansen 12 Christiane Hertz‑Fowler 9 Sven Krappmann 13 Uffe H. Mortensen 5 Miguel A. Peñalva 1 Arthur F. J. Ram 2 Ritchie M. Head 3 0 Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Berlin University of Technology , Gustav‐Meyer‐Allee 25, 13355 Berlin , Germany 1 Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas CSIC , Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040 Madrid , Spain 2 Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University , Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE Leiden , The Netherlands 3 Ceratium Limited , The Haven, West Kirby CH48 8AP , UK 4 Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnol‐ ogy, Berlin University of Technology , Gustav‐Meyer‐Allee 25, 13355 Berlin , Germany 5 Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark , Building 223, 2800 Lyngby , Denmark 6 Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biol‐ ogy, Hans Knöll Institute (HKI) , Jena , Germany 7 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University , Jena , Germany 8 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Genetics, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics , Georg‐ 9 Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool , Biosciences Building, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZB , UK 10 Fungal Physiology, CBS‐KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre and Fungal Molecular Physiology, Utrecht University , Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht , The Netherlands 11 AB Enzymes GmbH , Feldbergstr. 78, 64293 Darmstadt , Germany 12 Biotechnology Research, Production Strain Technology, Novozymes A/S , Krogshoejvej 36, 2880 Bagsvaerd , Denmark 13 Mikrobiologisches Institut - Kli‐ nische Mikrobiologie, Immunologie und Hygiene, Friedrich‐Alexander Univer ‐ sity Erlangen‐Nürnberg and University Hospital Erlangen , Wasserturmstr. 3/5, 91054 Erlangen , Germany The EUROFUNG network is a virtual centre of multidisciplinary expertise in the field of fungal biotechnology. The first academic‑ industry Think Tank was hosted by EUROFUNG to summarise the state of the art and future challenges in fungal biology and biotechnology in the coming decade. Currently, fungal cell factories are important for bulk manufacturing of organic acids, proteins, enzymes, secondary metabolites and active pharmaceutical ingredients in white and red biotechnology. In contrast, fungal pathogens of humans kill more people than malaria or tuberculosis. Fungi are significantly impacting on global food security, damaging global crop production, causing disease in domesticated animals, and spoiling an estimated 10 % of harvested crops. A number of challenges now need to be addressed to improve our strategies to control fungal pathogenicity and to optimise the use of fungi as sources for novel compounds and as cell factories for large scale manufacture of bio‑ based products. This white paper reports on the discussions of the Think Tank meeting and the suggestions made for moving fungal bio(techno)logy forward. - European companies such as AB Enzymes, BASF, Bayer, Chr. Hansen, DSM, DuPont, Novozymes, Puratos and Roal Oy are global leaders in using filamentous fungi as cell factories in white and red biotechnology. This group of microorganisms is often superior to bacterial and yeast based production systems, in terms of metabolic versatility, robustness and secretory capacity. Large-scale manufacturing processes have been developed for the production of organic acids, proteins, enzymes and small molecule drugs including antibiotics, statins and steroids. Fungal biotechnology thus plays a central role for many industries including food and feed, pharma, paper and pulp, detergent, textile and bio-fuel. For example, the worldwide production of citric acid produced using the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger by far exceeds the production of any other organic acid made by microbial fermentation. Indeed, the production of plant biomass degrading enzymes by filamentous fungi alone is a €4.7 billion market, which is expected to double in the next 10  years. However, filamentous fungi also pose a serious threat in relation to food supply and safety as they reduce worldwide annual crop yields by at least 10  %, with the emergence of new hypervirulent isolates and the spread of pathogens to new geographic areas continually reported. Accordingly, the global demand for fungicides to control fungal diseases was a €10 billion market in 2014 and is expected to grow continuously in the next decade. However, increased agricultural application o (...truncated)


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Vera Meyer, Mikael R. Andersen, Axel A. Brakhage, Gerhard H. Braus, Mark X. Caddick, Timothy C. Cairns, Ronald P. de Vries, Thomas Haarmann, Kim Hansen, Christiane Hertz-Fowler, Sven Krappmann, Uffe H. Mortensen, Miguel A. Peñalva, Arthur F. J. Ram, Ritchie M. Head. Current challenges of research on filamentous fungi in relation to human welfare and a sustainable bio-economy: a white paper, Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, 2016, pp. 6, Volume 3, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1186/s40694-016-0024-8