The word fungus does not conjure up pleasant memories to most. This has negative implications though mushrooms are a group of mycelial aggregates too. They form an important degradation pathway in nature and are important for recycling much of the heavy plant material. Fungus has not been a major part of producing anything relevant but a company called Bolt Threads is aiming to use it to manufacture leather equivalent. The market for leather is huge and is derived as a by-product of the animal industry. In some cases, it is not necessarily true – snake skin is harvested from the snake by killing the snake for the skin and not for the meat as in other industries.
Bolt Threads aims to grow mycelium and then cure it into leather. This is something unique and promises to be sustainable way to produce leather, rather than animals or synthetically from oil based economy.
The images on their website are amazing. It shows a very leather like material that is made from fungi in large containers!
Though they do not disclose much on their website, it will be interesting to see what kind of synthetic biology process went into creating genes/cytoplasmic/enzymatic processes that produces proteins or other substances which behave and feel like leather.
