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Host Material Viscoelasticity Determines Wrinkling of Fungal Films

Ciatta Wobill1, Paride Azzari1, Peter Fischer1

  • 1Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.

ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering
|September 24, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Fungal growth patterns, or morphologies, depend on the mechanical properties of their environment. This study reveals that the storage modulus of a material directly influences whether fungi form flat films or develop wrinkles and folds.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Materials Science
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Microbial organisms dynamically interact with and modify their surroundings.
  • Fungal growth morphologies are known to vary based on the substrate properties.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of host material rheological properties on fungal wrinkling morphology.
  • To establish a connection between material mechanics and biological film formation.

Main Methods:

  • Correlating rheological data of host materials with observed fungal growth morphologies.
  • Applying mechanical instability theories to understand wrinkle formation.
  • Utilizing simple scaling theories to analyze the relationship between wrinkling and storage modulus.

Main Results:

  • Fungal films remained flat on high storage modulus materials.
  • Wrinkled and folded morphologies emerged on low storage modulus materials.
  • Wrinkle formation was confirmed to be dependent on the host material's storage modulus, with amplitude, number, and length following geometrical laws.

Conclusions:

  • The study demonstrates a clear link between the mechanical properties of the host material and the resulting fungal surface morphology.
  • Findings suggest that fungal mechanical properties increase with host material elasticity.
  • This research provides a framework for designing fungal materials with tailored surface characteristics.
Keywords:
engineered living materialsmyceliumsoft materialviscoelastic hydrogelwrinkling

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