Fungi are an understudied, biotechnologically valuable group of organisms. Due to 
the immense range of habitats that fungi inhabit, and the consequent need to compete against a diverse array of other fungi, bacteria, and animals, fungi have developed numerous survival mechanisms. The unique attributes of fungi thus herald great promise for their application in biotechnology and industry. Moreover, fungi can be grown with relative ease, making production at scale viable. The search for fungal biodiversity, and the construction of a living fungi collection, both have incredible economic potential in locating organisms with novel industrial uses that will lead to novel products. This manuscript reviews fifty ways in which fungi can potentially be utilized as biotechnology. We provide notes and examples for each potential exploitation and give examples from our own work and the work of other notable researchers. We also provide a flow chart that can be used to convince funding bodies of the importance of fungi for biotechnological research and as potential products. Fungi have provided the world with penicillin, lovastatin, and other globally significant medicines, and they remain an untapped resource with enormous industrial potential.

The amazing potential of fungi: 50 ways we can exploit fungi industrially

Statins are a group of extremely successful drugs that lower cholesterol levels in blood; decreasing the risk of heath attack or stroke. In recent years, statins have also been reported to have other biological activities and numerous potential therapeutic uses. Natural statins are lovastatin and compactin, while pravastatin is derived from the latter by biotransformation. Simvastatin, the second leading statin in the market, is a lovastatin semisynthetic derivative. Lovastatin is mainly produced by Aspergillus terreus strains, and compactin by Penicillium citrinum. Lovastatin and compactin are produced industrially by liquid submerged fermentation, but can also be produced by the emerging technology of solid-state fermentation, that displays some advantages. Advances in the biochemistry and genetics of lovastatin have allowed the development of new methods for the production of simvastatin. This lovastatin derivative can be efficiently synthesized from monacolin J (lovastatin without the side chain) by a process that uses the Aspergillus terreus enzyme acyltransferase LovD. In a different approach, A. terreus was engineered, using combinational biosynthesis on gene lovF, so that the resulting hybrid polyketide synthase is able to in vivo synthesize 2,2-dimethylbutyrate (the side chain of simvastatin). The resulting transformant strains can produce simvastatin (instead of lovastatin) by direct fermentation.

Biotechnological production and applications of statins.

Full Factorial Designs- to Full Factorial Designs with Two-Level Factors- Analysis of Full Factorial Experiments- Common Randomization Restrictions- More Full Factorial Design Examples- Fractional Factorial Designs- Fractional Factorial Designs: The Basics- Fractional Factorial Designs for Estimating Main Effects- Designs for Estimating Main Effects and Some Two-Factor Interactions- Resolution V Fractional Factorial Designs- Augmenting Fractional Factorial Designs- Fractional Factorial Designs with Randomization Restrictions- More Fractional Factorial Design Examples- Additional Topics- Response Surface Methods and Second-Order Designs- Special Topics Regarding the Design- Special Topics Regarding the Analysis- Appendices and Tables- Upper Percentiles of t Distributions, t- Upper Percentiles of F Distributions, F- Upper Percentiles for Lenth t Statistics, and- Computing Upper Percentiles for Maximum Studentized Residual- Orthogonal Blocking for Full 2 Factorial Designs- Column Labels of Generators for Regular Fractional Factorial Designs- Tables of Minimum Aberration Regular Fractional Factorial Designs- Minimum Aberration Blocking Schemes for Fractional Factorial Designs- Alias Matrix Derivation- Distinguishing Among Fractional Factorial Designs

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A Comprehensive Guide to Factorial Two-Level Experimentation

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the physiology and biotechnology of Aspergillus species. The genus Aspergillus is found worldwide and consists of more than 180 officially recognized species. Molecular and genetic studies of Aspergillus species tend to concentrate on four thoroughly investigated species: A. nidulans, A. niger, A. oryzae, and A. fumigatus. The physiology of the Aspergillus such as life cycle, physiological responses and signal transductions, and carbon and nitrogen metabolisms are presented in this chapter. Most Aspergillus species, except A. fumigatus, have both sexual and asexual processes for spore duplication. A few, including A. nidulans, are also able to reproduce via a parasexual cycle. The capacities of microbial species to survive and respond physiologically to changes in their environment enable these species to exist under a broad range of conditions. Several signaling pathways are involved in Aspergillus cell growth and differentiation, and indicate links between cell developments to metabolite biosynthesis. The molecular biology of Aspergillus is also explained with the help of its gene expression, and by discussing the molecular biology approach of production of protein by Aspergillus species. The chapter presents the industrial application of the Aspergillus species such as citric acid production, production of extracellular enzymes, role of Aspergillus in the process of biotransformation, production of secondary metabolites, environmental applications, and production of other industrial products.

Physiology and Biotechnology of Aspergillus

Optimization of processing parameters for the mycelial growth and extracellular polysaccharide production by Boletus spp. ACCC 50328

The influence of medium design on lovastatin production and pellet formation with a high-producing mutant of Aspergillus terreus in submerged cultures

An effective experimental design was used to determine the optimal ingredients and compositions in submerged cultures of Aspergillus terreus for lovastatin production. Through medium optimization, lovastatin production of a 7-day fermentation process was maximized at (g/l): glucose (20.0), lactose (89.5), glycerol (30.2), peptone (6.0), soybean meal (4.2), and corn steep liquor (10.0), respectively. This optimized medium resulted in a 4.18-fold increase in lovastatin titres (i.e., 1.05 g/l), as compared with that using basal medium. The lovastatin producing phase was further increased if adding 0.1 g/l D,L-methionine at 72 hr, which enhanced lovastatin production by 14-17%. However, no benefit was provided to stimulate lovastatin production in the strain when this dosage was added in medium initially or during late idiophase. An adverse effect was also found when the L-methionine was applied.

Chieh-Chang Pan

Papers

The influence of medium design on lovastatin production and pellet formation with a high-producing mutant of Aspergillus terreus in submerged cultures

Medium Optimization for Lovastatin Production by Aspergillus terreus in Submerged Cultures