Cyborg fungal cells for biomimetic fabrication of transition metal oxide microtubes and modulation of fungal metabolism

Le résumé fourni par la source

Metal oxide microstructures with controlled morphology are attractive functional materials, but their fabrication often requires multistep synthetic procedures. Here, cyborg fungal cells (CFCs) were produced by cultivating Aspergillus niger and Phialomyces macrosporus in aqueous suspensions containing TiO2 or WO3 particles. The oxides integrated into fungal cell walls, generating living biohybrid structures with surface-bound inorganic layers. SEM/EDS, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetry confirmed oxide incorporation and the preservation of their characteristic crystalline features. Particle association was species-dependent, with P. macrosporus showing the strongest interaction with the inorganic phase. After calcination, CFC-P. macrosporus/WO3 yielded hollow WO3 microtubes that partially reproduced the original hyphal morphology, demonstrating the fungal scaffold as a biomimetic template for tubular metal-oxide structures. The effect of oxide integration on fungal metabolism was also evaluated in glycerol-supplemented cultures of native A. niger and TiO2- and WO3-containing biohybrids. Native A. niger produced a characteristic extracellular metabolite profile, including citrate, which was identified by comparison with a standard and MS2 fragmentation. The TiO2 biohybrid showed a broadly similar profile, whereas the WO3 system exhibited marked attenuation or loss of several metabolic features. These results demonstrate that filamentous fungi can organize metal oxide particles into biomorphic inorganic structures while exhibiting oxide-dependent metabolic responses.

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