In the Feb. 5 issue of Nature, Duke University School of Medicine researchers and colleagues lay out the dual role of fungi – as a species-threatening force capable of devastating bats and frogs, and yet vital to the ecosystem and everyday life. Fungi recycle nutrients, trap carbon, make bread rise and beer taste good, and produce antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals.
Over two million species of fungi exist, and researchers have only described about 5% of those species.
Asiya Gusa, PhD, assistant professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke School of Medicine, and Joe Heitman, PhD, chair of the Duke Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and study corresponding author, collaborated with the global think tank Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) on the review of fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems.
“By fostering collaboration, we are working to mitigate fungal-related risks while exploring innovative ways to leverage fungi for environmental and health solutions,” said Heitman, co-founder of CIFAR.
The review highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly of fungi. Some fungal species hold promise for producing materials like leather, and construction and packing materials, and can even offer solutions to combat climate change. Fungi can be employed to produce biofuel and may even be able to decompose “forever chemicals” like perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances that threaten drinking water.
But other species have had devastating effects on plants and animals. Depleted bat populations have increased the need for pesticides; declining frog populations have increased the risk of malaria; and tree deaths reduce carbon capture by forests, cost communities money for proper removal, and impact the lumber industry.
Each year, fungal infections account for 6.5 million illnesses and 2.5 million deaths globally.
The fungal kingdom is deeply intertwined with plant, animal, and human life. Duke researchers are at the forefront to better understand the effects fungi have in the environment and health and how we can both utilize and protect ourselves from the benefits and harms of fungal species.
They are also working diligently to better understand how climate change will affect the fungal kingdom. Rising temperatures, changing atmospheric gases, and extreme weather have the potential to change the distribution of both beneficial and pathogenic fungi.
The more researchers are able to learn and understand about fungi, the better prepared we will be to harness the beneficial fungi and protect ourselves from the pathogenic fungi, authors said.