Co-cultivation, Co-culture, Mixed Culture, and Microbial Consortium of Fungi: An Understudied Strategy for Biomass Conversion

Abstract

Sixty years have passed since Rachel Carson published her seminal book “Silent Spring” (Carson, 1962). Her work catapulted the ecological movement and shapedmodern environmentalism (Kroll, 2001). However, fast-forward to present day and we seem not to have paid enough attention to the environment. Guidelines for a sustainable future have been repeatedly proposed and the planetary boundaries for our safe existence have been established (Rockström et al., 2009). Yet, more than 80% of the current global energy consumption still relies on unsustainable fossil fuels1 (Ritchie and Roser, 2020) and the COP26 negotiations have not delivered (Sheather, 2021). To make things worse, the demand for oil and gas is expected to peak in the next two decades.2 The prevailing linear economy based on the take-make-dispose system is unsustainable (Sariatli, 2017) and climate change already affects biological systems around the globe (Freitas et al., 2021). There will not be a “one-stop shop” type of solution, but we need to transition to a circular economy and biorefineries are a great place to start (Ubando et al., 2020). Among several models, the lignocellulosic biorefinery concept is prominent (Silva et al., 2018) and this is where fungi occupy a special place.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.3389/fmicb.2021.837685

Journal

Frontiers in Microbiology

Year

2022