Fungal Biotechnology to Biomaterials: Production, Challenges, and Perspectives

Fungal biotechnology is an emerging yet underexplored source of next-generation biomaterials. Although mycelium-based composites have received recent attention, the immense number of fungal species, metabolic pathways, and structural architectures that have not yet been explored for material innovation remains largely unexplored. This chapter highlights new and less characterized areas at the interface between mycology and materials science, with a special focus on unusual fungi, such as extremophiles, marine isolates, and endophytic species with unique biopolymeric properties. New studies indicate that fungal networks are dynamic and responsive, and thus, living, adaptable materials with self-healing, self-growing, and stimuli-responsive characteristics can be created. New developments in synthetic biology, genomic mining, and artificial intelligence-assisted design are now enabling the discovery of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters and the programmable production of fungal-derived polymers, nanomaterials, and conductive pigments such as melanin. In addition, frontier applications of fungal biomaterials include bioelectronics, soft robotics, neural interfaces, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 genome editing, environmental sensors, and space habitation, reflecting the transformational potential of these materials beyond their usual packaging and building applications. An expansion in technological space is also achieved through new methods of fabrication, such as 4D printing, bio-mineralization, and hybrid multi-organism systems. Despite these advancements, significant challenges, including the scarcity of genetic material for designing fungi in rare categories, scaling challenges in living materials, and a lack of control over engineered fungal systems, remain. The chapter summarizes new knowledge, identifies a critical knowledge gap, and outlines the future of integrating fungal biology with advanced materials engineering. This will transform the idea of sustainable manufacturing, as fungal biotechnology explores these untapped areas and encourages the development of high-performance, bio-fabricated materials for future generations.